Recovery and Rebirth

Ms. Lance-Hart’s office

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

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Good afternoon, Sunset.”, Ms. Lance-Hart said as Sunset entered and sat down.

“Hi”

Ms. Lance-Hart had the board set up, and they started playing.

“I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of your life in general over the last few weeks, but I was hoping we could go over specific periods in your life to see how the events of those times affected who you’ve become.”

“I take it you’d like to go over my early foalhood then.”

“Yes”

“Okay, so, my biological parents’ names are Stormy Flare and Shadow Walker. Now, something I’ve yet to elaborate on is that there are three different tribes of ponies and several different species that are able to interbreed with ponies. I am rather mixed with relatives from all three tribes and beyond, and like with humans, this resulted in me not really fitting in anywhere.”

“Would I be correct in assuming your more omnivorous components didn’t help much in that matter?”

“Very, even as a human, I have elongated canines that can be described as fangs. Ponies have evolved different teeth to humans, including absolutely no canines or premolars. My fangs really stood out, and they used to stick out of my lips before I grew into them. I was called a monster a lot back then, even ‘demon’ wasn’t uncommon by the more devout yet less informed. I inherited my thestral blood, the omnivorous blood, from my father, and my sister’s biological dad, we’re half sisters, was also omnivorous, so they were the only ones that understood me.”

“That does explain the difficulties you seem to have with connecting with people.”

“It could also be because I’m too busy analyzing them to connect with others. My father works for our version of the CIA and has many training books on how to read members of basically every species and can do it so well that he can basically read their minds. I found those books and read every single one of them. It became a game to me and eventually something I can do passively. Very helpful as a politician and soldier, not so helpful with personal relationships. By the time I learned how to not freak others out with that skill, I was not in a good headspace.”

Ms. Lance-Hart let out a short snort of a laugh. “That sounds familiar. When people I don’t know learn I have a psychology degree, seventy-five percent of the time, their first question is some variation on “are you analyzing me?”. Of course, my answer is always “no, you’re too boring.”. Oh, that makes them mad.”

Sunset smiled at that. “Oh, is that why you became a counselor?”, she joked.

“Yes, not to help kids, but to make people mad.”, Ms. Lance-Hart joked back. They chuckled at that, and Sunset checkmated her king. “Again? How are you this good?”

“Chess exists on Equoes too, and I’ve spent the last twenty years playing it, fifteen of those against somepony that’s been playing it since it was introduced to Equestria. I think I’ll find my mate when someone beats me.”

“Have you thought about dating again?”

Sunset paused at that, memories of what she almost did to Flash rearing their ugly head. “No, and I’m not sure I’ll ever try again.”

“Why?”

“This is jumping forwards a bit, but part of my job as an officer in the Equestrian army was investigating the crimes soldiers under my command commit. In my ten years of being an officer, the most common crime was domestic assault. I now know those soldiers were suffering from untreated PTSD, but I thought they were absolute scum for the longest time. I still find their actions immoral, but I now have sympathy for their pain.”

“Where are you going with this?”

Sunset cringed as the vile taste of the words she was about to speak hit her tongue. “I nearly hit Flash when he broke up with me.”

“‘Nearly hit’ as in you missed or as in you stopped yourself?”

“I stopped myself, but I still wanted to hurt him. And I was hurting him. Our relationship may have started out as actual love, but by the end, I was treating him as more of a tool. I knew he’d likely become popular here, just as he did in middle school, and then I’d come in as the popular boy’s girl, jump starting my conquest of the high school.”

“Oh… that is bad.”

“Yeah”

Ms. Lance-Hart stayed quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. “Well, that’s why you’re seeing me, and you recognize what you did as wrong. I think that you will be able to have a healthy relationship in the future.”

Sunset looked up at Ms. Lance-Hart, examining her expressions and body language intently. Like always, she was being sincere and honest. “I hope so.” Sunset checked Ms. Lance-Hart’s king, and they reset the board. “Ms. Lance-Hart, do you think I have PTSD?”

“Well, I’m not qualified to make diagnoses. I’m just a counselor. But it would not surprise me if you did. You’ve been through several highly traumatic events and have presented several symptoms that suggest PTSD. Once you get an actual therapist, you should ask them that.”

“At this rate, that’s never going to happen.”, Sunset said dejectedly.

“Hm… have you ever heard the story of Pandora’s box?”

“Some girl opened a box that contained all the world’s evils and let them loose.”

“That’s the summary, but there’s a bit more to it than that, and there are a few different versions. Let me tell you my favorite.”

Sunset looked up from the board and leaned back into her chair.

“In ancient times, the gods created the first mortal woman, Pandora. Each of the gods gave her a gift. Hephaestus created her from clay, shaping her perfectly, Aphrodite gave her femininity and Athena taught her crafts. Hermes taught her to be deceitful, stubborn and curious.

She was told to guard a box. She was not told what it contained, only to guard it. As time passed, Pandora grew more curious of what the box contained. One day, she decided to peek inside. “What could be the harm?” she thought, but when she lifted the lid, it bursted open, releasing the illnesses and hardships that gods had hidden inside the box. She struggled to close it. All the while, more and more evils escaped. By the time she managed to close it, all the evils escaped, all but one, hopelessness.

For all the disease, wars, and death that now permeate the world, we still have hope, and with that hope, we push ourselves forward to a brighter tomorrow. We must never let hopelessness out, or all the evils will truly be unleashed.”

Sunset took a moment to fully process the story. A story about not losing hope in such a hellish world. Of course they would have that. How else could they keep going? Keep going, that’s all we really can do. “I like that story.”

Rarity’s room

Date: Oct 4th, time: 2:00 pm

*Rarity’s perspective*

Rarity sat at her desk with her sewing supplies set out for use. There was a knock at her door, and she got up to answer. On the other side stood Rainbow and Fluttershy, each carrying a duffle bag. Both were wearing their gym shirts as every other shirt and dress they owned, along with their light jackets, were in the bags. “Come in, girls.”

“How long will this take?”, Rainbow asked as she and Fluttershy walked in.

“That depends on a few factors, mostly how much undisturbed time I can get. Go ahead and put those on my bed.” Both of them did, and Rarity began looking at the contents.

“So, what are ya gonna do to them?”, Fluttershy asked.

Rarity found the shirts they ripped when they transformed at the music shop and animal shelter and examined them. “Well, that depends on the garment. Most of these, I should be able to just cut slits for your wings to slip through, but some of the tank tops and garments with lower backs are going to be more challenging. You might just need to stop wearing certain styles if you don’t want wires bugging you.”

“That sounds like it’s going to be more of a ‘you’ problem, Flutters. Though, what about my jackets? Slits in the back would kinda defeat the purpose.”

“I can use velcro to close the slits.”

“Can you do that to the one I already ripped and let me try it first. I’m worried the velcro will bug me too much.”

“That is something I can definitely do. Come back tomorrow, and we’ll go over that stuff, and I’ll give you what I already completed.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Rares. Bye.”, Rainbow said as she and Fluttershy left.

“See you tomorrow.”, Rarity said without looking up from her work. She laid the shirts each girl ripped out to act as a template as to where to cut. “Who would’ve ever guessed I’d be altering human clothing with real wings in mind?”

Portland, Maine

Date: Oct 7th, time: 5:00 pm

*Kehinde’s perspective*

Kehinde watched from the deck, bag in hand, as the ship pulled into port. She couldn’t wait to get off. She much preferred scavenging her own meals, and the smell of popobawa had gotten really old. The boat was secured, and she was the first one off. More of Anansi’s implanted information popped up in her head as needed. She knew where to go, who to talk to, and so on. After talking to way too many people and having to do stupid bureaucratic crap, she was finally free to roam around the city.

Unfortunately, all she knew about the magic was that it came from this state, and that’s a lot of land and islands to search. She couldn’t just ask the locals about it. They’d know what she’s up to and possibly try to hide the magic. I need money. They have to have graveyards here. I’ll focus on that for now. Hopefully, another wave will come.

Kehinde began walking with no particular destination in mind. She looked around at all the people, and the first thing about them that jumped out at her was their pink skin. Sure, some of them looked like the humans she was familiar with, but the majority were that peach color. Those weren’t even the only colors as some humans had colors that fell just about everywhere in between. I wonder if having different skin colors affect their taste. Their clothes were also strange, but clothing is clothing. What was familiar was the jewelry. That was so basic that it'd be the same no matter where one goes. People wear pretty rocks to show how wealthy they are.

The sun was setting quickly, so Kehinde had to find a safe place to transform. She continued walking until she found what she was looking for, as indicated by the sign at the gate. A graveyard, finally. The only problem was that it was right in the middle of the city and surrounded by roads and buildings, but she had no other choice. She scaled the surrounding wall and jumped down before anyone had a chance to notice her. She took off her clothes and put them in her postal bag. The day turned to night, and her transformation began.

Claws grew from her nails, her teeth grew sharper and her jaw elongated, fur grew from her skin, her ears pointed and moved to the top of her head, and her legs became digitigrade. She shook her body, letting her spotted fur fall where it may. She was once again in her true, beautiful form. She picked her bag up and slipped it on. This would normally be the point where she’d start digging, but the surrounding buildings could hold humans that might notice her. Was the risk worth it? I’ll just run if need be. I’m faster than their cars.

Kehinde examined the graves, checking the dates. They were nothing new, rocks used to label a patch of dirt. She managed to find one that was buried within the last week. Score. She took a second to admire the green grass that covered the place then started digging.

CHS bathroom

Date: Oct 9th, time: 4:05 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, watching for any physical changes as she tried to use her adoptive parents’ magics. There hasn’t been any further development since September. She could activate her fear aura on command by forcing herself to feel angry, but that was it. She was unlikely to experience any enhancement to her senses given her thestral senses are already on par with those of a kitsune. She hasn’t experienced any of the abnormal physical abilities that Brigid shows. Faoladhs are supposed to also have regenerative abilities, and her wounds did healed quickly and well, but Sunset’s aversion to her own blood kept her from really testing that.

The sounds of inharmonious music slammed into her ears, causing her to wince with a wolfish whine. Although the Rainbooms, as they call themselves, can play their instruments well on their own, they’re still working on harmonizing with each other, much to the detriment of those around them. Rainbow initially wanted the group to be called the “Rainbow Kabooms”, but Sunset, thanks to Spitfire’s constant boasting about how she would one day create one, accidentally called them the “Rainbooms”. Needless to say, the latter name stuck.

Sunset put in her noise reducers and headed to the band room. She was there to see the pony transformations they’d been reporting. They’d play their music then take on the same forms they did during the Fall Formal. Their playing had stopped by the time Sunset entered the band room, and the girls were talking, almost looking like arguing, amongst themselves. They were so wrapped up in their heated discussion that none of them noticed her entrance. “Ahem”

“Oh, hey, Sunset.”, Rainbow said, turning to look at the redhead. “Where’ve ya been?”

“Sorry, I was in the bathroom. That sounded bad.”, Sunset said bluntly.

“Yeah, it was. These guys just won’t sync up with me.”, Rainbow said cockily, earning glares from the others.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the drummer supposed ta set the tempo?”

“It’s my song we’re playing. I know how it should be played better than anyone.”

Sunset gave no response as she moved to the side. She never played with anyone else before, so really had nothing to stand on. Besides, she was there to observe, not critique their playing. She pulled out her camera and began to film the girls.

The girls continued playing, and Sunset wished she had normal human hearing. Imagine every pot and pan you own, cast iron included, being dropped from three stories up, and you’d get an idea of what they sounded like. Sunset covered her ears and stood as far away from the speakers as possible. Every couple of minutes, they’d stop to have another heated discussion, and Sunset would get a reprieve from the noise. She’d seen no evidence of magic during the whole fiasco, and it was getting late. She had to get home before dark.

“Hey, guys, could one of you just play your one instrument for me? I have a twenty minute walk home, and my mom doesn’t want me walking in the dark.”

“Huh, oh yeah, sure.” Rainbow stepped forward and began to play a solo, which actually sounded good. There was a definite change in the atmosphere, and her pony traits began to appear as she floated up into and slowly spun in the air until she reached the top of her ascension where she stopped spinning. She only came down as her solo came to a close.

“Wow, that was certainly something.” Sunset closed up her camera and put it back in her bag.

“Ya got that right. Hey, could ya send that to me?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.”

“Thanks. Oh, you need my email.”

“I have it, unless you changed it recently.”

“Huh?”

“I hacked you, remember? I have all your contact details.”

The best way to describe Rainbow’s face would be ‘oh, crap’.

“Yeah, you should all change your passwords and set up two factor identification. The longer the password, the better. Something like a phrase is easy to remember.”

“Got it.”, the Rainbooms said.

Sunset gave them an apologetic smile as she turned to leave. She hurried home and straight to her room. She opened up her computer and started the process of transferring the video to it and editing out the useless ruckus. Once that was done and it was just a video of Rainbow’s transformation, Sunset attached it to an email and shot it off to said video’s subject. With that taken care of, she set to examining what she had caught. Unfortunately, all that it showed was ‘ayuh, dat dere’s some magic’.

Sunset sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. If she had the equipment and spells she had in Equestria, she could get her answers quicker. That is assuming they’d even register Earth magic as magic given how different it is from Equestrian magic. She could try building her own magic scanners. Those machines were old and expensive to replace, so she’d basically completely rebuilt them by the time she’d left, and her skill with machines had improved thanks to her old side hustle. Though, finding the components and needed space could prove tricky. The high school does have some labs in the basement. She could ask Principal Celestia about using one. Equestrian runes do work on Earth, so they can be used to create suitable substitutes for the expensive materials, like she did back on Equoes, and the short life span of the substitutes wouldn’t be an issue.

“How did I do that? If only I still had my…” Sunset looked up at her bookshelf and noticed her old journal. She’d bragged, in great detail, to Princess Celestia about how she “revolutionized the study of magic”. Granted, she sorta did, but only if you had way more time than money on your hooves or didn’t need them to last long, the latter of which applied to her. Those conversations are basically as good as notes.

She grabbed it and began flipping through the pages, looking for those entries. It was before she graduated, so they’d be relatively early on. Reading through those old entries caused something in her chest to twist. She was so young, so innocent. Sure, she went through loads of crap no foal or child should, but she was still so hopeful. Reading Celestia’s words, she realized just how complicated her emotions towards her are. “You say she’s not a god, but you seem to still think of her as such, a perfect being, or at least a being that should be perfect.” That is what Ms. Lance-Hart told her in their last session. She’s not a god. She’s just an ultra powerful pony. She’s mortal, flawed. Remembering to think of her like that helped sort out her emotions. Celestia had been ruling over a large country alone for a thousand years. She had to delegate much of her responsibilities. She trusted the noble families to take care of her ponies, and they betrayed her trust. She still let them run unchecked, but the whole problem’s much more complicated than ‘she alone let it happen’.

Sunset found the pages she was looking for and placed bookmark sticky notes to find them easier. She placed the journal in her backpack to take it to school. There was a solid, thunking knock on her door, and Sunset went over to answer it. As expected, Brigid stood on the other side.

“Hey, whatcha want for dinner?”

“I’ll eat anything.”

“Could you three be somewhat picky for once?!”, Anzhong called out from the kitchen.

“You’re the one who decided to reproduce with a werewolf!”, Sunset remarked. “It ain’t our fault we’re livin’ garbage disposals!”

“Aye. Are you okay? Ya seem distressed.”

“Yeah, jus’ rememberin’ happier times.”

“Happier times?”

“Back when I was a filly and my emotions towards Celestia were less complicated.”

“Wha’ do ya mean?”

“Back when I saw her as the coolest being in all existence and infallible. I’m not as mad at her as I have been for these past years. I recognize the nobles betrayed her as much as they did the people. I can now look back and see that she was trying to correct things, but she wasn’t doing all that she could or needed to. She had the ability to strip the responsibilities from the noble houses and give them to others, but she never did.”

“Dat seems like a much healthier mindset.” Brigid rubbed Sunset’s head then headed back out to the living room. Sunset followed her out and sat next to her on the couch. Minerva was sitting with the girls and helping them with their homework. Sunset placed her head on Brigid’s lap as she joined in on the homework, and Brigid started stroking her hair again.

She must’ve caught a nostalgia bug as Sunset was reminded of a simpler time, back when she was a younger human.

*Flashback*

Katon family living room

Date: Oct 29th, 2013, time: 9:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

“C’n ya read dis?”, Brigid asked.

“Sunny ran down the hill. Sunny said ‘hi’ to jill.”, Sunset read from her book. She sounded like a three year old, but she was learning quickly.

“Very good.” Brigid had one of her arms around Sunset and held Emi in the other. Despite eating only a couple hours ago, Emi was hungrily nursing from Brigid. The kid had a voracious appetite.

“Keep this up, and you won’t need ESL classes.”, Anzhong said.

“What E-S-L classes?”, Sunset asked.

“English as a second language classes, dey’re ta help immigrant kids dat don’t know English well. Anzhong took ‘em when he first got ‘ere.”

“And I did not like them. I didn’t like having to do extra work.”

Ki stuck his nose up under Sunset’s book and began sniffing her, and Sunset petted him in return. “Good doggy.”

*Present Day*

Sunset looked over to Ki’s chair that has since been claimed by Kiba and Tomiju. I miss Ki. He was such a good boy.

On board the Friendship Express

Date: 12th day of the 10th month of the 1120th year, time: 5th hour ASR

*Stormy’s perspective*

“Okay, so, we’ll be hopping off at Sire’s Hollow station, and then we’ll need to walk to the White Tail Woods. Will you be good?”, Happy Berrymix, Stormy’s partner, asked. Neither of them were wearing their exorcist robes, and Stormy’s crossbow and bolts were stored in a specially designed suitcase, so they looked like any other passengers.

“Yeah, I can make that journey.” Stormy stared intently out the window as the once familiar mountains surrounding her old home came into view. This would be the first time she’d even been close to home since she’d left Sunset and Spitfire with Stellar so she could join that battle. She hadn’t even seen her sister since she’d kicked her out of her hospital room for being a busybody and trying to push her “plans” on her. She’d always been a meticulous planner, but Stormy’s injury seemed to have pushed it up a notch. The age difference and wildly different personalities never made them close growing up, and they sorta just stopped speaking after that. Sunset doesn’t even remember her as her reaction to learning about her and that she was hoping on getting her son into CSGU was “You have a sister?”.

“Hey, you okay?”, Happy asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because you’ve been staring out the window for three straight hours.”, she said in her usual, confidently playful tone. Ever since Sunset started studying the Elements of Harmony, Stormy’s been seeing them in everypony and grouping them together by their element or lack thereof, and the same can be said for Spitfire and Shadow. The phrase “If I can’t assign an element to them, I don’t trust them” became commonly used in their household. Happy has the Elements of Laughter and Kindness.

“I was just thinking.”

“What about?”

Stormy looked at the pony next to her as she contemplated. They’d been partners for over a year at that point, and a partner in battle should be the only pony one trusts more than their partner in love. “I guess I should tell you.”

“Oooh, juicy secret.”, she quietly said as she clapped her hooves together.

“It’s not so much a secret as something I don’t like to talk about. I’m actually from Sire’s Hollow, but my relationship with my family there is strained.”

“And you’re not ready to try and fix it.”, she said in that ‘oh, I get you now’ tone.

“Correct”

“Oh well, I was hoping to explore the town after our mission, but I guess I can skip it this time.”

“You can still explore. I just won’t be exploring with you.”

“Then where will you be?”

“I thought I’d take this opportunity to visit a couple of ponies that I don’t have a strained relationship with.”

“Being married to a thestral has clearly left you with an enhanced ability to be dark and mysterious.”

Stormy rolled her eyes at Happy’s joke as the train pulled into the station. They got up, grabbed their bags, and hurried off. They got to a place where nopony would see them before starting to unpack and gear up.

“Okay, so, there’s a timberwolf in the nearby White Tail Woods.” Happy stopped her recap and looked to the wall that surrounded the town. “Is that a common issue?”

“Yeah, it’s not as bad as in the Everfree, but the White Tail Woods do provide monsters with protection from the Monster Hunter Corps. Plus, we border the undiscovered west.” Stormy wiggled into her, now crimson, robes and attached her crossbow and quiver. Her robes didn’t have the grayish blue of the soul tamers as she once thought it would. Something about that kind of magic just made her feel icky whenever she tried using it.

“Okay, so, there’s only been one confirmed sighting, but there might be more. We should be prepared for a whole pack.” Happy’s robes now sported blue along with the crimson, indicating she knew holy water spells. That was a good thing, especially since both of them used sacred fire and could be quite reckless.

“Roger that.” Stormy got the last bits of her gear on before activating the runes in her robes.

They tightened the straps on their saddlebags, hid their suitcases, and headed off to the woods. Stormy couldn’t walk that far, so she took flight right away. For a pureblooded unicorn, Happy was surprisingly fast, but Stormy still had to fly slower than normal. The tree line came into sight, and before long, they were under the canopy. The trees blocked out most of the sun, leaving only small beams of light to guide them and forcing them to slow down.

“Yeesh, I can barely see.”

“Stay close to me.”, Stormy said as she pulled her dark vision goggles down. They were a gift from Sunset and one of her first inventions. They allowed her to see in the dark like the other members of her family. These were certainly better than blinding them whenever she entered a room they were in.

“Where can I get a pair of those?”

“My daughter made them.”

“Your unicorn daughter, Sunset?”

“Yes”

“Do you have any idea what happened to her? I mean, it’s pretty strange that some pony so politically powerful just went missing like that.”

“I know what you’re implying, and I also know she’s alive. She’s the most powerful non-alicorn in all of Equestria, and I received a letter from her a couple years ago saying she was fine.”

“It still seems fishy to me.”

“Can we drop it? I don’t like thinking that.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Several minutes of searching and Happy shooting off detections spells passed before either of them spoke again.

“Anything?”

“No… Hey, I’ll be fine down here for a few minutes. You fly up and do an overhead search.”

“Alright, but don’t be afraid to burn down this forest. We can regrow some trees, but we can’t regrow you.”, Stormy said as she lifted up her goggles. Happy smiled and lit a fire spell. Stormy flew up above the canopy and surveyed to treetops.

The forest stretched from the Smokey Mountains to the North all the way to the Applewood Mountains in the South. Luckily, they only have to search half the forest as it’s been bisected by the very train tracks that brought them there. Timberwolves are stupid but are smart enough to be scared of trains and know that train tracks mean trains yet, again, too dumb to realize train tracks aren’t, in of themselves, dangerous. This has led them to avoid and rarely cross them. But that still leaves them with furlongs to cover.

She flew around, searching for any partings of the trees. Timberwolves are large enough that moving through the trees for them is like moving through tall grass for ponies. She noticed a patch of trees swaying out of sync with the nonexistent wind, and the swaying was moving towards where Stormy left Happy. She bolted back at a speed her eldest would be proud of and dropped down next to the unicorn, startling her.

“Gah! Stormy! I take it you found something.”

“More like something found you.”

Before Happy could ask what that meant, the wretched smell of timberwolf breath answered her question. “Oh”

Stormy readied her crossbow, loading a sacred fire enchanted bolt, and Happy hit her horn. Their quarry burst through the trees towards them, and they both launched themselves back while firing off their attacks. Both found their marks, causing the beast to howl in pain. The two of them recovered, and Happy rushed behind it with another spell while Stormy reloaded. Stormy kept the thing distracted with bolt after bolt while Happy attacked from behind. The sap from the healthy wood the spirit possessed kept it from going up like a match, but the fire was all too eager to eat up the dead wood.

The creature attempted to put the fire by shaking it off, but that only succeeded in spreading it to the nearby brush. Either way, Happy had to break off her attack to put it out lest they be cooked by their own flames. The creature attempted to bite at Happy, but a bolt to the side of the face turned its attention back to Stormy. It tried to jump at her, but she launched herself further up into the air.

“Ey, watch those stinky teeth! Ya might jus’ lose ‘em!”, Stormy mocked as she loaded another bolt, this one with an explosive kick. She missed having her one-sided banters with creatures that could actually get offended, but this would suffice. Plus, the roars these things make in response almost seem like they’re insulting her back, just like the one this one made. “Perfect” She fired her shot straight into its mouth, and it unwittingly swallowed it. “It’s gonna blow!”

Happy ducked behind a tree while Stormy stayed in place to watch. The look in its glowing eyes might’ve been realization that it just fucked up, or it could’ve been it feeling the onset of the explosion that shredded it to splinters from the inside out shortly after. Either way, they’ll never know now. Bits of the wolf flew up towards Stormy, but her shields didn’t let them touch her body. Happy poked her head out from behind the tree as soon as pebbles and wood stopped flying in every direction. All that was left of the thing was a bunch of burnt wood and the green, misty spirit that’s the true form of the timberwolf rising up from the ashes.

Happy jumped out from her hiding spot and began casting the cleansing ritual. The green mist was trapped by several rings of fire with runes made of lighter fire shaped out of them that formed a sphere. “With this spell, I extinguish you from Equoes. May Grogar’s evil plague us no longer. Burn away and never return!”, Happy chanted. The rings began to spin and grow brighter along with Happy’s eyes. As the rings grew brighter and spun faster, they began to shrink around the spirit until it was all an indistinguishable, sun-like ball of light, and then it disappeared from existence with a pop of an explosion.

Stormy landed next to the panting Happy, and sat down next to her as she plopped down to her stomach. “Nice job, kid.”

“That *gasp* was *gasp* exosting.”

Stormy stroked Happy’s mane as she caught her breath. It was something she’d used to do for Sunset when she’d end up the same after training. She still didn’t understand all the jargon, but it was something about forcing her wellspring to its limit and forcing it a little past that. Happy was about that age too, being in her early twenties.

She eventually was able to sit up and looked around at the destruction in amazement. “That was awesome. I can’t believe we just took down a timberwolf. A timberwolf! That exploding bolt was a brilliant idea.”

“It would’ve meant nothing if you weren’t able to exorcise it.”

“Thanks. Though, I wish I had your mana reserves.”

“Are you feeling up to heading back?”

“Give me a few more minutes.”

“Okay, I’m going to make sure we’re not going to be responsible for a forest fire.” Stormy got up and began checking the battlefield and the area around it for any stray embers. Every one she found, she stomped it out thoroughly. Happy eventually got up and began dousing everything with water. Once they made sure they wouldn’t get stuck with another clean-up bill, they headed back to where they left their suitcases. They walked and flew at a slower pace as Happy was still recovering. “Maybe you can create some charms to store some of your magic externally. My daughter described some of her soldiers doing that. She called them external mana banks. They’d refill them during their down time for emergency use.”

“That sounds like that could get expensive, but I could possibly submit them for reimbursement. I’ll consider it and have some talks with Head Priest Burning Heart.”

They found their bags and began taking off their gear.

Happy stored away her robes and fixed her mane. “Hey, I'm going to get something to eat. Do you want anything?”

“Something small would be good. I’m not that hungry.” Storm closed up her weapon cases and gathered everything up.

“Aren’t you going to take off your robes?”

“Not yet. I’d rather have the extra layer of anonymity. Besides, it wouldn’t be unusual to see a priest where I’m going.”

Happy made an ‘oh’ face as she finally figured it out and nodded. “Okay, see ya back at the station.” She scampered away, and Stormy began her walk around the town wall.

The town’s shrine house stood proud above the rest of the buildings. It’s the only building built partially outside the wall. The reason for that was so ponies wouldn’t have to do what Stormy was doing now to get to the graveyard, which is outside of the wall. The town was pretty old, and even with its small population, the cemetery was quite sizable. The Flares came as hired protection for the settler ponies, which proved to be a wise choice. The place was infested with Gorgar’s monsters. They ended up staying so long that they grew a fondness for this place and decided to stay and settle down.

She found the pair of graves she was looking for, the graves of Nova Flare and Warm Winds. They despised the fact she had a fascination for monsters and a love of the exotic. While Stormy studied monsters, they viewed it as a waste of time to study things that they were going to kill. They viewed anything that wasn’t a pony a monster with only species like donkeys, cows and pigs or unintelligent species escaping that branding. They didn’t even consider thestrals or other pony hybrids to be ponies. As such they died without ever hearing their youngest granddaughter speak. “I wonder if you would’ve joined the Equestria First Legion?”

*Flashback*

On board the Friendship Express

Date: 30 years ago, time: 5th hour ASR

*Stormy’s perspective*

Stormy sat in a desolate cabin that only held herself, Spitfire, and the mere months old foal she cradled in her forelegs. Very few ponies had any reason to go this far west. Spitfire’s face was pressed up against the window as she watched the world go by. This was the first time she’d ever been outside of Canterlot, at least that she remembered. She was previously watched by a friend that was out of town, taking care of her own family. That left Stormy with only one other choice, but that choice had the risk of two ponies she didn’t want to see making themselves known.

Sunset stirred in her bundle. Stormy looked down to see two, big cyan eyes looking back at her. They looked just like her father’s, just not slitted. A feature she got straight from her father were her itty-bitty fangs that stuck out from her top lip. The light caused the baby thestral to squint and let out the most adorable, tiny hiss. Spitfire heard the hiss and turned around to check on her baby sister. Stormy wrapped her up so the light wouldn’t bother her and held her close.

“Is she always going to have trouble with light?”, Spitfire asked.

“Probably, thestrals were designed to live in caves.”

“Was I like her?”

“No, your eyes are better at seeing in the dark, but they aren’t designed specifically for that.”

“What species is my dad?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older.”, she said as she turned her attention back to her younger foal.

Spitfire huffed and crossed her legs together. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll hold my breath until I die.”

“Uh-huh”

“I’ll do it.”

“Go ahead.” Stormy didn’t even look up as she heard Spitfire take a big inhale. She enjoyed the silence for a while, until she heard something soft hit the deck. She looked to her left to see that Spitfire had passed out and was sprawled out on the deck. She barely managed to hold back a chuckle. “You’re going to be quite the stubborn one.”

It only took a few seconds for Spitfire to wake up. “I’m not dead?”, she said confusedly.

“Of course not. You’ll pass out and start breathing again long before you suffocate yourself.”

Spitfire climbed back onto her seat and resumed her pouting. The ride was blissfully quiet for a while longer, but the silence was broken when Sunset started to get fussy.

“Is she okay?”, Spitfire asked.

“Yeah, she’s just hungry.” Stormy unwrapped Sunset and laid down on her side to let her nurse.

“Mom, I’m hungry too.”

“Okay” Stormy looked to the ends of the carriage to see if anypony was coming. “Go ahead and grab a snack.”, she said once she determined the coast was clear.

Spitfire flew up to their overhead luggage and pulled out a piece of dried meat. Stormy had learned about how griffons dry out and spice their meat for long term storage and prepared what would hopefully be at least a few moons worth of cured meat for Spitfire. Spitfire retook her seat and quickly ate her meat. Once Sunset was done, Stormy wrapped her back up and cradled her legs again. As much as she wanted to close her eyes and get some rest, doing so without anyone else to watch the girls was a bad idea.

“Mom”

“Yes, dear?”, she said, trying to keep her tired irritation from showing.

“Is Sunset’s dad going to stick around?”

“He does want to be involved in your lives, but remember what I said about destiny?”

“Only Faust knows what the future might hold, and it’s only written in stone once it is written. Does that mean he might not stick around?”

“It means he might not make it back. Once we do get back, we’ll take desk jobs so we can be there for you both.”

“Okay”

The rest of the ride was blissfully quiet. Once the train pulled into the station, Stormy pulled the baby carrier on and placed Sunset in. The carrier sat at the front of her chest, leaving her back and sides open.

“Do ya need any help, ma’am?”, the train conductor asked. She must’ve been more tired than she thought. She didn’t even notice him enter.

“Yes, please.”

The conductor, an earth pony stallion, hoisted as many bags as he could onto his own back. That left only a few smaller things for Stormy and Spitfire to carry. He helped them carry their bags out to the platform, where Stellar stood. The two of them greeted each other with warm, but small, smiles. Despite already being 15, Stellar wasn’t going to be heading to any recruitment centers for a little while longer. She said she wanted to wait until the conflict with the griffons was over, and Stormy couldn’t blame her. Joining during peace is a much more pleasant experience than during wartime. Either way, she’d likely end up at a desk job with her particular skills.

“Hello, sister.”, Stellar said.

“Hello, sister.”

Spitfire zipped past Stormy and straight into Stellar’s face. “Are you Stellar? Can I see you do magic?”, she asked.

“You must be Spitfire. Well, Spitfire, I have a list of all sorts of fun things I have planned for us to do together.”

“Of course you have a list and a plan.”, Stormy groaned.

Stellar stuck her tongue out at Stormy then looked towards the kind stallion helping them. “We can talk more once we let this fine gentlecolt get back to work.”

“That’s okay, ma’am. Customer service is part of tha job.”, he said proudly.

“It’s okay. We got this.” Stellar lit her horn, taking their luggage off the stallion and dividing it between the two of them. She placed the luggage she allocated to Stormy on her back and kept the majority she kept for herself aloft. “You good?”

“Yes” Stormy turned to the stallion. “Thank you.”

The stallion bowed and went back inside the train. The two of them began their walk to Stellar’s house. Spitfire was zipping around the town, looking at all the buildings.

“She’s quite a strong flier for a filly her age. I don’t suppose that her father might have something to do with that?”, Stellar asked.

“I have an eye for strong wings, no matter the form they take.”, Stormy said smugly. Sure, Spitfire wasn’t planned, or even thought possible, but she could still take pride in creating her.

“Are you sure it isn’t that you just have a thing for leather wings?”, she asked in a teasing tone.

“Actually, Shadow has feathers. His dam is a pegasus, and apparently feathers are a dominant trait.”

Stellar looked down at the bundle strapped to her chest. “What does she look like?”, she asked a bit worriedly. Stormy knew that didn’t come from a place of not wanting Sunset to look like a thestral but a place of knowing she’ll have an easier life if she didn’t.

“Mostly like me, but she also does look a bit like you.” Stormy pulled the cover back, revealing Sunset’s horn and red main, the same red as the lighter shade of red in Stellar’s mane.

“Aw”, Stellar cooed.

Sunset looked up at her aunt, having to squint because of the light.

“She also has her fathers eyes.” Stormy covered her back up to let her continue sleeping.

“And fangs.”, Stellar stated, a bit of worry slipping in.

“Yeah, we’ll navigate that when the time comes.” Stormy looked back up to where she expected Spitfire to be… only to see her talking to two ponies she’d hoped to avoid this trip. They had never met her before, only knowing of her existence from when Stormy told them she was pregnant and had no idea how to get in contact with the father. It was then she had to tell them the father was a migrating dragon that had likely gone back to the Dragon Lands by then. Their rage only grew when she’d finally convinced them that it was consensual. They were angrier that their daughter chose to have relations with a dragon than when they thought she’d been raped. She lost a lot of love for her parents that day and even began to doubt her sister as she said nothing during the whole ordeal.

Whatever remaining love she had for her parents died a couple months later when they tried to convince her to kill Spitfire. They traveled all the way across the country to Baltimare to try to convince her to kill her three day old daughter. Spells were flung that day, and Stellar had to be placed in a separate cell as she still tried to kill them, even with a magic surprising ring on her horn. At least her faith in her sister was restored.

They didn’t do anything now, but they didn’t look at her with any love in their eyes. Spitfire’s fangs were hard to hide, and they’d likely seen them. The little filly didn’t seem to notice as she flew in circles in the air as she talked. Stellar noticed it too, and she was huffing like a bull to keep herself in check. The last thing Stormy wanted to do was scare her, so she tried to keep her feelings from showing through. “Spitfire, come here, sweetie.”, she said as calmly as she possibly could.

“Coming, Mom.” She waved goodbye to the two ponies she had no idea were her grandmothers and flew back over to her aunt and mother. “Hey, those two ponies look just like us.”, she chirped happily. “Are we related to them?”

“We can talk about that later. Stellar”

Stellar gave one final glare to her mothers before escorting them to her house. It was a small place she got as far away from their parents’ house after the fiasco at the hospital. As evident from earlier, neither of them could even look at their parents without at least feeling disgusted. Stellar took the bags from Stormy and looked to Spitfire. “I’ll show you to your room, and we can get you set up.” She looked back to Stormy. “You should rest for now.” Stormy nodded as Stellar and Spitfire headed down the hall.

Stormy closed the blinds, took the bundle out of the carrier, and uncovered the foal. Sunset happily looked up and let out a sweet laugh. “How could anypony think that you’re a monster?” A knock came from the door, and Stormy covered Sunset back up to look through the curtains. If ponies could hiss, she’d be hissing up a storm as she saw her mothers were on the other side.

“Who is it?”, Stellar asked.

“I’ll give you a guess.”, Stormy said while looking back at her sister. The look and her tone told Stellar all she needed to know.

Spitfire ran past Stellar and, before either of them could stop her, opened the door. “Hi! Hey, you’re those ponies from earlier.”

Stellar moved quickly to put herself in between Spitfire and their parents. “Can we help you?”

“We need to talk.”, Mom said seriously. Mom was the unicorn and mostly looked like Stellar but without the white patches on her legs.

“Now’s not the best time.” Stellar tried to close the door, but Mama put her hoof in the way.

“No, now.”, Mama said in a tone that got Stellar to back up, almost as if out of instinct, allowing them in. Mama, was the pegasus and looked mostly like Stormy but with the white markings on her legs. They looked down at Spitfire with faces that the filly recognized all too well. Stormy put herself in front of her daughter, and Spitfire awkwardly tried to hide behind her and protect Sunset at the same time. They closed the door behind them, and no longer attempted to hide the disgust on their faces. “Stormy, why did you bring that [bad word that translates to ‘disgusting’] thing here? It’s an embarrassment to the family.”

“You shouldn’t speak that way around foals.”, Stella chided. Sunset began to stir in her bundle, but none of the other adults noticed. “Spitfire, let’s go to your room.”, she said, switching to a softer voice.

“Uh, okay.” Spitfire was hesitant to let go of Sunset until Stellar took her in her magic. The movement caused Sunset to uncover herself. She let out a yawn, fully exposing her fangs. Mom and Mama were surprised then even more disgusted. Stellar quickly got the girls into Spitfire’s room, and the green aura that flashed across the door indicated she’d put up a privacy spell.

“You brought another one of those freaks into this world!?”, Mama screamed.

“Sunset’s not a freak.”, Stormy said firmly.

“‘Sunset’ is a unicorn name.”, Mom said with venom. “What is she, another dragon half-breed?”

“She’s a thestral. Her father is a respected member of the Air Guard.”

“They’re letting those half-breed demon spawns into the military now? Disgusting.”, Mama said. “Who in their right mind would allow the servants of Nightmare Moon to roam freely in the kingdom of the sun princess, let alone the military?”

“I’m not entertaining your bigotry. Get out! Don’t you dare come anywhere near my children! If you so much as aim at one of them, all of Equestria will know you tried to kill your own grandfoals! You called Spitfire an embarrassment to the family. How would familicide look on the family? I know ponies that could spread the news to the princess herself. Something like that should earn her ire.”

The two of them looked towards the glowing door then Mama shook her head. “Where did we go so wrong in raising you?”

“You did just fine in raising me. It was when you became grandmothers that you utterly and completely failed. Now, get out. I don’t want either of you to have any part in my foals’ lives.”, she said in a cold, steely tone.

The look they gave Stormy was cold and lacked any love. “You are no daughter of ours.”, Mom said, and with that, they left.

“Good” It most likely wasn’t needed, but Stormy shoved a chair under the door handle before heading to Spitfire’s room.

“Mom!”, Spitfire cheered, and Sunset reached for her. Stellar and Spitfire sat on the bed, and the former was cradling Sunset.

“What happened?”, Stellar asked.

Stormy sat down next to them and took Sunset back. Spitfire crawled over, and Stormy scooped her up too. “Who were those ponies?”, the little filly asked.

“They’re the town crazies. Don’t believe a word they say, but also stay away from them. They’re gone now, but they can be dangerous. Better to be safe than sorry with ponies like them.”

“Okay”

“Let’s get you unpacked.”, Stellar said. She and Spitfire began unpacking her things. Spitfire and Sunset would be there for a couple moons.

*Present Day*

Stormy looked down at the graves with a blank look on her face. They died in a monster attack a couple years after that. Ponies called them heroes, but neither Stormy nor Stellar felt like correcting them. That would’ve just made the two sisters look bad. Even if everypony remembered them as heroes, they still lost. Stormy’s face morphed into a cocky, smug grin. “I bet you two are rolling down there. You said they’re embarrassments to the family. Well, my dragon “half-breed” daughter is the captain of the Wonderbolts, and my little “demon spawn” is one of the most powerful unicorns to ever live. Wherever she is, and you’re dead. I’m glad neither of you ever got a chance to hurt them.” Before she left, Stormy spat on both of their headstones.

She headed back the way she came and back to the platform, where Happy was waiting for her. “Got this for you.”, Happy said while passing her a fruit smoothie.

“Huh, I didn’t know we had a smoothie place.” Stormy placed it on the ground while she got her robes off and stored.

“Yeah, it’s better than the bread.” Happy held a familiar piece of pony grain bread in the air. “This thing makes a better weapon than food.”

“My sister and I used to throw those at each other. We broke some walls.” Stormy tried the smoothie and made a sour face. “I think this would make a better weapon too.”

The two nodded to each other and discarded their “food” in the bushes as the train rolled up.

Halls of CHS

Date: Oct 14th, time: 12:00 pm

*AJ’s perspective*

It was first lunch period, meaning it was lunch time for the newly coined Rainbooms. The girls all slowly met up as they made their way to the cafeteria. AJ stood next to Rarity in the line. To be completely honest with herself, she liked her more than as a friend. She’s always liked her, her sharp wit, her beautiful body, her creativity, but she’s only thought about her that way recently. AJ was a bit of a late bloomer, and by the time she did, their friendship had already disintegrated. Now that they were close again, all she wanted to do was be as close to her as possible and look at her. There was just the problem that their group was only recently re-established. Something like this might rock the boat too much, especially if Rarity didn’t feel the same in return. For now, she’d just keep those feelings a secret.

“AJ”, Rarity said.

“Huh, everythin’ okay?”

“Yes, you were just staring.”

“Oh, um, sorry. Ah was just admirin’ your outfit. Did ya make it yourself?” That wasn’t a total lie, which is what made it such a good lie. Being a human lie detector meant that she was very familiar with the methods of catching liars and, thus, knows how to avoid making those same mistakes. She by no means likes lying and would much rather be able to be completely honest 24/7, but that isn’t the world they live in. Instead, she kept her lying to a minimum to give people the false impression that she never lies.

“Oh, no, not this outfit. It’s just some things I grabbed off the shelves.”

“It still looks good on ya.”

“Oh, thank you.”

The five of them finished getting their food and got to their table, followed shortly by Sunset. “Hey, demon girl.”, Rainbow said. It was subtle, but Sunset’s chest tightened when Rainbow called her that.

“Sunset, are ya okay?”, AJ asked.

“I’m fine.” That was a lie.

“Are ya sure? We’d get it if that’s a sensitive subject.”

“I’m used ta it.” That wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t what she asked. That response also seemed far too well practiced, not the kind of practice one gets from a little under a couple months. This isn’t anythin’ new ta her.

As much as she wanted to press the subject, she knew from past experience that Sunset wasn’t one to give up her secrets. Ah guess livin’ da life she does must make lyin’ second nature. The girls turned their talks to more mundane topics, the upcoming showcase, and family stuff.

“So, did the video finally convince your parents?”, Sunset asked RD.

“It wasn’t so much the video as it was my conviction. Though, it did help. I know they’re still trying to make sense of it all. Speaking of which, does the fact we can grow pony features make us some sorta pony/human hybrid?”

“Um, I don’t know. When creatures go through the portal, they’re changed on a genetic level, though not perfectly. I still have some of my original genes that are able to present themselves.”

“Is that why your arms are so long and you’re so hairy?”, Pinkie asked.

“Probably”

“How do you know this?”, Rarity asked.

Again, Sunset’s chest tightened. “My mom is a college professor. She took my DNA to some people she knew that could test it, and that’s what the results said.”

“So, we could do that then.”, RD said.

“I…I’ll talk with my mom about it.”

Somethin’ bad definitely happened. “Sunset, is there somethin’ you’re not tellin’ us. Y’know ya can tell us anythin’. We’re all a part of this semi-secret magic club now.”

Sunset twiddled with her utensils for a bit before speaking. “Yeah, okay. You should know this.” She now had all of their full attention. “My mom had the DNA sent in anonymously, not at all uncommon, but the guy she asked to do the testing realized it was alien DNA and went full tinfoil hat conspiracy nut. He was able to figure out my ethnicity, approximate age, and gender and used that information to file down who I was. Once he realized Brigid’s my mother, he quickly deduced that I’m the alien. He threatened to take everything he had to the authorities, so my mother destroyed all his evidence, and without that, everyone thought he was crazy, and he’s now in some loony bin. That happening again is what I’m worried about.”

There was silence at the table as everyone took in the information for a solid few seconds. The silence was eventually broken by Fluttershy, of all people. “Oh”

“Ah get tha feelin’ you’re leavin’ somethin’ out.”, AJ said.

“Yes, but it’s for my mothers safety. How do you think she destroyed his evidence?”

The five of them looked at each other and silently came to a mutual understanding. Idiot got too close to a mama bear’s cub and got the expected result.

“Okay, maybe we shouldn’t do that then.”, RD said.

“I’d feel much better that way.” Sunset pulled her phone out. “I’m gonna head to the bathroom. I’ll see ya later.” Sunset got up, taking her empty food tray with her.

AJ watched Sunset leave and exit the cafeteria. “Hey, girls, Ah don’t think we should call her a demon anymore.”

“Why?”, RD asked.

“It seemed ta make her uncomfortable.”

“She said it didn’t bother her.”

“No, she said, “Ah’m used ta it”. That was a purposeful misdirection of the question.”

“Yeah, I’m with AJ on this.”, Pinkie said. “My eye drooped when you called her a demon and when we started talking about DNA testing.”

“Ah also suspect bein’ called a demon is nothin’ new ta her.”

“What makes you think that?”, Fluttershy asked.

“Ah think Ah’ve also developed psychic abilities, and they’re tellin’ me that word is connected ta her hurt.”

Pinkie jumped from her seat and stuck her face in AJ’s. “Oooh, oooh, what can you do?”, she asked excitedly.

“Uh, mainly lie detectin’ stuff, some emotions, and some stuff ta do with nature n’ plants.” AJ pushed Pinkie back out of her personal space. Her breath stank of cafeteria meat.

“Okay, does anyone else have any newly acquired powers they’d like to tell the group about?”, RD asked.

“I can focus in on someone and read their movements and emotions, even the smallest twitch of the eye. Unfortunately, doing that a lot causes me to get a headache.”, Rarity said.

“Um, I can sorta speak to animals. It’s not like we can have conversations, but it’s easier for me to understand animals and get them to understand me than the other volunteers. I also seem to have a calming effect on others. That might just be my personality though.”, Fluttershy answered.

“Okay, so we all have powers, and we all had since before the Fall Formal?”, RD asked. All of them nodded. “Okay, that’s cool.” Rainbow crossed her arms in a way that meant she was thinking about something. “I wonder.”

Lunch ended, and the girls headed to class. The day went on as normal. AJ’s last class of the day was gym, which she shared with Rarity and Sunset. Their class filed in, and everyone chose a locker and began changing. AJ and Sunset ended up with neighboring lockers while Rarity was further down in the same row.

As they all undressed, AJ noticed Sunset peeking at the other girls out of the corner of her eye. “You’re shameless.”, she said quietly.

“Don’t act all high and mighty with me. I’ve seen you peeking at Rarity.”

AJ’s face turned red, and she whipped her head around to glare at Sunset… a completely naked Sunset. Her eyes lingered on her, out of her control. She was well filled out, actually filled out, not big assets and tiny body “filled” out. Her skin had a natural golden tan to it, and she had respectable muscles. Her entire chest and arms were also covered in scars, so many scars. She’d known about the few small ones and that massive one on her face, but she never looked at Sunset’s body, especially not close enough to see them all. “H-how did you get so many?”

“That is a story for another time.”

AJ turned away from Sunset but found herself stealing glances at her scars. Sunset began to put her shorts on and got up to slip them on, turning away from AJ as she did so. That allowed AJ to see two, large scars in the center of her upper back, and these scars looked fresh. AJ looked away and kept her eyes on the floor for the rest of the time they were changing.

As they went about gym class, AJ noticed the scars on her legs. They weren’t nearly as numerous or big, but they were still there. It was almost like every inch of her body had scarring. What happened ta her? Who did that ta her?

Gym class wrapped up, they showered and changed back into their street clothes, and AJ, Rarity, and Sunset headed to the band room. Given how close the gym is to the band room, they were the first to arrive. AJ and Rarity began setting up their instruments as Sunset took her position off to the side. The rest of the Rainbooms filed in shortly after and also began to set up, all except for Rainbow.

“Hey, Shimmer, do you have any psychic powers?”, RD asked, as blunt as ever.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you're the only one of our little club not confirmed to have one.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you know I see spirits, Fluttershy’s is animal related, AJ can sense when people are lying, Rarity can read people like a book or something like that, and Pinkie’s got her “Pinkie sense”. Can you do anything like that?”

“Well, yes, I can. It seems to be aura related. I can sense people’s nature and emotions through their aura along with hiding my own from most people, and I can kinda sense spirits but can’t see them. Spirits are basically auras without bodies.”

“What?! No fair. You get the same powers as me but the more practical version. Your powers sound awesome.”

“They are, but I had to train them with my father to get them where they are now.”

“You can train them to get stronger?”

“Aye”

“Could you train me?”

Sunset shrugged. “Maybe”

“Great, but it will have to be after the showcase. I need to focus on this. Now, is everyone ready?” Rainbow walked over and began setting up herself.

“Not quite.”, AJ said. “Sunset, Ah still wanna know who gave ya all those scars.”

Sunset looked confused for a moment before looking like she realized something. “No one person gave me all my scars. They come from being in the military for ten years and being a stupid kid for five years. I’m not nor have I ever been abused.”

“Military?”, RD asked. “Sunset, how old are you?”

“That is a more complicated question than you may think. I was twenty-five when I came to Earth, but I was turned into a ten-year-old human. My human brain and body are fifteen, but I’ve been around for thirty years and have memories from when I was twenty-five.”

“Did you ever go to war?”, Pinkie asked cautiously.

“Yes, we had our own war on terror not long ago. It’s not “officially” considered a war, but it was a war.”

“Yeesh, no wonder you were so crabby. Having those kinds of memories as a ten-year-old couldn’t have been good for your coconut.”

“That’s what Ms. Lance-Hart said yesterday.”

The other four girls looked at each other with worried looks as the implications of the situation really hit them.

“Have you… killed before?”, Fluttershy asked.

“Oh yeah, I had to kill more than a few terrorists, or they would’ve gone on to kill more civilians or warn their co-conspirators that we were coming. It’s not a pleasant feeling, but you quickly learn to ignore and forget about it. And before then, I was a monster hunter, so killing was in the job description… Why are you all looking at me like that?”

The rest of them were looking at Sunset with shock and horror on their faces.

“Do you not realize what you just said!?”, Pinkie said, bordering on outrage. “You may not have been a child when you went through all that, but you’re a child now. If any child got those memories zapped into their head, they’d be traumatized for life. You’re a child soldier with extra steps.”

“It’s not that bad. Like you said, I was an adult when that stuff happened.”

“Fish don’t know they’re in water, dearie.”, Rarity said.

Sunset looked confused for a moment then like she wanted to protest but then slowly looked more solemn and then angry or determined.

“Sunset?”, Fluttershy asked.

“Just start playing.”, she said darkly.

They gave each other worried looks before refocusing. They started playing, and it was getting better, but they still weren’t fully harmonized. Their ears were no longer victimized by their playing, but they still weren’t transforming. They practiced for almost an hour and actually started to sound kinda good by the end. RD’s alarm for 3:55 went off, and they had to stop. The next group would be coming for their practice time at 4:00, and they had to be out of there. They started to pack up and filter out. RD and Fluttershy were talking with each other while Pinkie and Rarity said their goodbyes and left.

AJ walked over to Sunset who had her head down and wasn’t paying attention to the world around her. “You okay, sugarcube?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

“Right, speaking of which, when we formed this group tha first time around, we agreed that, if we want ta help each other, we have ta be completely honest with each other about our traumas.”

“Where is this coming from?”

“Ya dodged ma question earlier when Ah asked ya if bein’ called ‘demon girl’ bothered ya.”

Sunset looked up at AJ with a serious look on her face. It looked like she was debating with herself on who to kill, it was that serious looking. “I can’t lie to you, can I?”

“Nope”

“Sigh, it doesn’t exactly bother me when you guys say it as you put no malice behind it, but it does bring up a lot of bad memories of people and ponies that meant that word maliciously.”

“Ponies? So, before coming to Earth?”

“Correct, ‘hinnot’ is a derogatory term for my subspecies that roughly translates to ‘demon servant’.”

“Oh… Ah’ll let da others know not ta call you that.”

“‘Demon’ isn’t in of itself a bad word. It just triggers some bad memories. Don’t get bent out of shape trying to avoid it.”

AJ nodded to Sunset then headed out. She had a lot of information to process.

Streets of Black Forest Neighborhood

Date: same day, time: 4:05 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

Fish don’t know they’re in water, a problem can be so encompassing that it doesn’t seem like a problem. Sunset walked home at a slower pace as she mulled that over in her head. She knew Rarity said that in reference to her military history related issues, but her problems go deeper than that. Her issues start with the nobility, not only the corruption but, despite her being Celestia’s personal student, never being treated with her due respect. Celestia would bring her into meetings with the nobles in order to learn about politics and prompt her to participate, but the nobility would never take anything she said seriously. It wasn’t an age issue. The nobles would bring their own heirs with them for the same reason, and they would be listened to and have their points entertained, even if most of them were quickly thrown out. The nobles never respected her because she wasn’t a part of the noble caste, and that was evident, even to ten-year-old her.

Casteist pricks, they think they’re better than everyone else just because of who they were born too. Sunset stopped in her tracks as she compared the US's lack of a caste system to Equestria’s present caste system. When she was still in Equestria, she didn’t question it. Certain families were nobles because Faust chose them to play that role in her story, and the reason the vast majority of them were unicorns was because the heightened intelligence of unicorns made them especially qualified for the role, but Faust isn’t a god. There is no “Great Writer”. No one chose them to be in their position, and most of them haven’t proved themselves worthy of the power they were given. The US also has its share of social problems, but the lack of a caste isn’t one of them. It’s at least theoretically possible for people to move up in the world and means that anyone can at least put their name in to obtain a role in the government.

Brigid, born a farmer, but she’s now an academic. That would never happen in Equestria. Why is there even a caste system? If somepony is capable of doing a job, they should be allowed to do it. Why would there be a system in place that stops that? I’m proof that a pony can be born in one caste but have a good career in another. It makes no sense.

A port city in Beikoku

Date: Oct 16th, time: 6:00 pm

*Lee’s perspective*

Lee Smith, the name he finally chose, did his best to pretend to be this Chuck Smith human. Doing his job was easy, but having to pretend to be him around the other humans was taxing. Blue friend was much better at this human business. He never understood why she wanted to reproduce with these things so badly as to risk her own life. I wonder where she is now? Lee grabbed the bag containing clothes and some other items he’d pilfered from Chuck and headed off the ship as soon as it docked.

“Hey! Chuck! Where are you going?!”, one of the other humans called out.

Lee gave no reply as he no longer had to keep up appearances. He just headed away from the ships. He had to do this “customs” thing before leaving, but Chuck knew how to do it. He headed into the city, walking until he found a strange building near the edge, and by then, the sun had set. What it was didn’t matter. It was isolated, and it had a bathroom that he could access without anyone noticing.

Lee went into the bathroom, making sure to lock the door, and then jumped out of his host. His host fell to his hands and knees as he coughed as if trying to get up a hairball. He managed to look up to see Lee with all seven of his majestic tails flowing. He froze with a look of fear and awe on his face.

“You are lucky, human. Behold the greatness of my true form as it will be the last thing you see.”, Lee said with a fox smile. His words registered in the simple creature’s mind as he tried to get away from him but only succeeded in further exposing his neck. Lee jumped at the human and clamped down on his neck, driving his teeth as deep as he could. Blood sputtered out from the neck, out onto the floor and into his mouth. The saltiness of human blood hit his tongue, making the experience enjoyable. Lee thrashed and ripped to widen the wounds, only aided by Chuck’s attempts to remove him, causing more blood to spill out. It was only when he stopped moving did Lee let go and let the human fall to the floor.

Lee shapeshifted into his human form and began to clean himself. His human form was that of a thirty something human male with hair that reached his mid-back. It had the same pattern as his fur. Once all the blood was off, he grabbed his clothes from the now bloody bag and got dressed. He retrieved his pilfered goods, which included a folded leather thing that held what seemed to be currency; some strange, hard cards; and a pocket sized, yet extraordinarily good, painting of a female human around Chuck’s age. She looked similar to blue friend’s human form but with lighter blue hair and pink eyes. Probably his mate. “My apologies for taking you from your mate, but I couldn’t have you spreading news of my arrival to this place.”, he said in Chuck’s language. Pronouncing many of the vowels was tricky, resulting in him sounding like he was drunk, but he was getting better.

He discarded the strange cards and painting then placed the folded leather and other goods in the pockets of his clothes. He exited the bathroom, making sure no human was coming his way. He began marching away from the town center. He didn’t know where the source of the magic was. He just knew it still wasn’t close.

CHS band room

Date: Oct 23rd, time: 3:30 pm

*Fluttershy’s perspective*

The Rainboom, watched by Sunset, played “Awesome as I Wanna Be”, another one of Rainbow’s songs. It was always Rainbow’s songs they played. Fluttershy loved her, but that girl’s head was big and hard as a rock. She had some songs of her own that she at least wanted to try, but Rainbow always said that they needed to practice the songs they were going to be performing. She wasn’t happy about that or the way she was being talked to but didn’t make a big stink about it. If this band continued after the showcase, she would push harder to play her songs. But as it currently was, they still had to practice. They’d been practicing for two weeks now and were sounding pretty good. Sunset was even tapping her foot along to the song.

A familiar feeling came over her, and she felt her magic flowing. Her ears moved to the top of her head along with the other girls’, and her wings unfolded from her back, easily slipping through the slits Rarity made. The sensation was like having your arms folded for hours and finally being able to spread them out. She gave them a couple flaps to get the stiffness out. They finished the song, and many of them put their instruments down to check themselves out.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!”, Rainbow cheered as she jumped and spun around.

“Rainbow, be-” Before Fluttershy could warn her to be careful of the cords on the ground, Rainbow got her foot stuck in said cords and began to fall backwards. Before any of the Rainbooms could even take a step forwards, Rainbow was caught by Sunset.

“Whoa, thanks.”, Rainbow said.

Sunset said nothing as she lifted Rainbow back upright. Applejack rushed over to berate Rainbow for not being careful while Rarity went over to look at her back, probably to check her work for herself. Fluttershy looked to where Sunset was and where she stood now. That had to be a distance of like ten feet or something in less time than it took the rest of them to even process that Rainbow was falling. How?

Fluttershy walked over to Sunset, who was also looking at the distance she covered. “How did you do that?”

“That… is… complicated.”

“Was it your leftover pony DNA?”

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

“Really?”, Fluttershy said with a scowl.

“Hey, I just don’t feel like giving a history lesson today. I’ll tell you guys everything in due time. Due time is coming sooner than expected.” Sunset said that last part so quietly that the only reason Fluttershy heard it was because of the enhancement her pony ears gave her hearing.

“Dang girl, I’m impressed.”, Rainbow said, looking to where Sunset was standing. “I guess getting turned into a demon has its benefits.”

“Ah told ya not ta say that word.”, Applejack chided.

“Right, sorry. I meant no offense.”

“None taken, and no, getting turned into a demon isn’t how I did that. That was different.”

“Then what was it?”, Rarity asked.

“I’ll tell you guys once I figure it out myself.”, she said with growing irritation.

“You have been doing a lot of weird stuff lately.”, Pinkie said while popping out behind Sunset and Fluttershy, startling them both. “I mean, remember that fear aura thing?”

“Yes, I do, and seriously, Pinkie, you reek of sugar.”, Sunset said while covering her nose.

“Yeah, that too. I still don’t smell anything.”

Fluttershy leaned in and sniffed Pinkie. “I definitely smell something sweet.”

“What? Hang on.” Pinkie popped around the room, getting everyone to sniff her.

“Are you wearing some sort of perfume, darling?”

“That’s the thing, I’m not.”

“Maybe that’s how you’ve somehow managed to avoid getting diabetes, you’re sweating the sugar out.”, Rainbow said.

“Eeew”, Applejack said. “That’s gross.”

“And a biological impossibility.”, Fluttershy said.

“You say that as if reason and logic applies to her.”, Sunset countered. “It’s Pinkie Pie. I stopped trying to logic her a long time ago.”

“‘Logic’ isn’t a verb.”, Fluttershy said as the transformation died down. Her ears turned back into their normal state, and her wings retracted back into her back. Despite what one might think from just looking at it, her wings don’t just disappear. She could still feel them in her back, and someone could feel them if they pressed the right spot. Both her and Rainbow had been feeling something strange in their backs after the Fall Formal, but they didn’t know what it could be until after her transformation at the mall.

“This is English. Any noun can be a verb if you don’t care enough. Besides, I got my point across, and that’s the whole point of language.”

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “Alright, I’ll concede to your second point.”

“You guys are the only ones that mentioned the smell. Not even my sisters have said anything.”, Pinkie said.

“Your sisters aren’t weird pony/human hybrids. We are, and a pony’s sense of smell is much stronger than a human’s.”, Sunset said. “That goes double for mine because of my subspecies.”

“You’ve mentioned you’re a subspecies before. What does that mean?”, AJ asked.

“The short answer is that I’m part thestral. We’re the only omnivorous ponies and nocturnal. You’ll see a lot of my thestral traits the more time we hang around together.”

“Thestral? As in…?”, Rainbow asked.

“No, not as in that TERF’s book series. Thestral as in the name of my subspecies.”

“Oh”

“Is that what that ‘hinnot’ business is about?”, AJ asked.

“Ayuh”

“Back to my apparent sugar scent. What does this mean?”

“You should eat less sugar.”, Rarity deadpanned.

“Never”

“Hey, guys, it’s getting close to four, and the showcase is in a few days. We gotta keep practicing.”, Rainbow said. The rest of them nodded and retook their positions. “Okay, let’s do “Awesome as I Wanna Be” again. One, two, three.”

Of course.

Katon family dining room

Date: same day, time: 6:30 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

My magic’s getting stronger. Sunset poked at her food as she went over the day’s events. She’d managed to use her faoladh magic to catch Rainbow, and it alerted her to just how much of it she had. I didn’t get that magic from Emi. She barely even had enough magic to do what I did. That means I must be producing it, and that means… “Mom”

“Hm, wha’s up?”

“Are you like part faoladh and part human, or is being a faoladh something you either are or aren't, no halfies?”

Brigid leaned back in her chair as she thought. “Ah think it’s da latte’. We are genetically identical ta humans, aside from some DNA sequences dat might code f’r magic. Our magic’s all dat separates us from humans. So, Ah guess we are still technically human but a different class a’ human. Why do ya ask?”

“Y’know how Grandpa holds kitsune magic but isn’t able ta create more of it himself, so he doesn’t actually have it?”

“Yes”

“Well, that’s what I initially thought was going on with me, but I’ve noticed that I'm producing faoladh magic and am probably producing kitsune magic too.”

“Ah’m sensin’ dere’s more.”

“Yeah, the girls I’m… I’ve been hanging out with have the ability to transform into human/pony hybrid forms. The process to turn me back caused them to absorb some magic from the crown, the same energy I used to save Emi. I also got magic from that night, and I’ve noticed it growing inside of me.”

“Have you undergone this transformation?”, Anzhong asked.

“No, not yet.” I haven’t played in months. “But, I likely can, and that means…”

“Cool pony powers for Emi!”, the little cub cheered. “Okay, how do I transform?”

“All dese girls have permanently gained magic?”, Brigid asked.

“Seems like it.”

“Have dey told their parents?”

“They’ve tried, but so far, only Applejack’s, Pinkie’s, and sorta Rainbow’s families believe them. They can’t transform at will and just show their parents, so it’s been kinda tricky.”

“We should all get together sometime to discuss this whole magic business.”, Anzhong said. “Their parents need to understand what this all means for their children. They’re going to be facing a lot of new challenges that few other parents do.”

“I still need to get the girls to understand all this. They’re still in the ‘holy crap, magic’s real and you’re an alien’ honeymoon phase.”

“Very well, but this needs to happen soon.”

“I’ll go as fast as I can, but I’m still figuring this out myself and trying to keep all our heads from exploding.”

“I’m sure you’ll do your best.”

Pinkie’s room

Date: Oct 25th, time: 6:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Up and at ‘em Shimmer. We need ta get ta Sweet Apple Acres for practice.”

“Hm, five more minutes, Mom.”, Sunset groaned, pulling her pillow over her head to block out the light.

“Sunset Shimmer!”

Sunset bolted up in surprise, smacking her head on something on her way up.

“Agh, ma nose.”, AJ winced.

Sunset rubbed the top of her head as she registered the world around her and that what she’d hit her head on was AJ’s nose. “Sorry” Her eyes were squinted about as far as they could be without her fully closing her eyes. Pinkie’s room was painfully bright.

“Ugh, you’re stronger than ya look.”, she said as she continued to rub her nose. “Pinkie and her mom are loading her stuff up into their van. Some of us need ta pick up our stuff on our way ta Sweet Apple Acres, so start gettin’ ready.”

“Okay”, Sunset groggily said.

AJ, already fully dressed and groomed, headed around the group of freshly woken up teenagers, urging them to get a move on. Aside from AJ and Pinkie, Twilight was the only one of them that wasn’t doing the “teenager wake up” dance.

“Come on, girls. The sun’s been up for a while now. Why aren’t you already up?”, Twilight asked.

“We aren’t sociopaths.”, Fluttershy tiredly deadpanned, only confusing Twilight more.

“Sunset, what about you? You were a student of Princess Celestia too?”

“Yeah, but I’m also a thestral. I am not nor ever will be a morning anything.”, she said as she let her eyes adjust to the light.

“I thought thestrals only returned with Princess Luna.”

“A small group of us remained but went into hiding due to our ostracization. I’m a descendant of that group.”

“Oh”

The four slugs forced themselves awake and into their morning routines. Sunset went to her overnight bag and pulled out her change of clothes for the day, but her bracelet wasn’t where she expected it to be. “Hey, has anyone seen my bracelet? It’s red and black.”

“Worry about that later. We’re on a time limit.”, Rainbow said.

“No, it’s a medical alert bracelet. I need it for if I get injured, say in a car wreck.”

“Sigh, fine. Okay everyone! We’re looking for a red and black med bracelet!”

The six of them looked around the room, lifting up pillows, sleeping bags, and whatever else it could be hiding under.

“Found it!”, Rarity called out. “Ew, it’s kinda gross.”

Sunset hurried over to Rarity. “I’ve worn it everyday for almost three years. It’s gonna be kinda gross.”

“Fair, but what is Rh null blood? I couldn’t help but read it.”, Rarity said as she handed it back to Sunset.

Sunset took it back and began putting it on. “It’s my blood type, a blood type most hospitals don’t tend to just have on hand. It’s rare, and I have to donate blood to myself every month.”

“Oh”

“Yeah, speaking of which.” Sunset turned to Twilight, who was now holding Spike. “Hey, now that you can come here whenever you want, I would like to run some experiments with you.”

“I would too, but Princess Celestia said that we have to be careful with the balance of the worlds. I’m worried that hopping over too much might cause problems.”

“I think she was talking about metaphorical balance, not literal balance.”

“Chop chop, people, get a move on.”, Rainbow alerted.

“We’ll talk more later.”

They returned to getting reading, grabbed something quick to eat, and were hurrying out the door within a few minutes. They all piled into Pinkie’s family’s large van with her mom in the driver seat and the pink sugar ball in shotgun. The van comfortably held all eight of them and had room in the back for their instruments. I guess four kids necessitates a big car.

“Twilight, sit next to me. You’ll need some help.” Sunset sat her and Twilight where she’d be able to easily help her with her seatbelt and anything else that might come up in her first car ride. “This is called a seatbelt. If something goes wrong, it will help keep you safe.”

“How frequently do things go wrong?”

“Often enough that you need to put this on.”

Twilight let Sunset show her how to properly buckle up. “So, how does this thing work?”, she asked as Mrs. Pie started up the car. The first stop on the map was Fluttershy’s house, down the road.

“Well, a vehicle like this uses a type of refined fuel called petroleum. When Mrs. Pie turned that key, a small bit of it was aerosolized and a spark was generated. This caused a controlled explosion that pushed down some number of cylinders that make the engine work. The energy created from that is then used to spin the wheels and charge the battery.”, Sunset explained. “Through petals controlled by her feet, she can add more fuel, making it go faster.”

“Fascinating”

“I can teach you to read English, and you can read as much as you want on it.”

“Really? I would like that very much.”, Twilight said excitedly. During their conversation, Fluttershy had retrieved her tambourine, and they were on their way to Rarity’s house. When Mrs. Pie got them onto a main road and sped up, Twilight clutched her armrest and a slight look of panic crossed her face. “Um, how fast can these things go?”

“Tha speed limit on this road is thirty-five miles per hour.”, AJ said.

“That means absolutely nothing to me.”

Sunset thought for a moment. Trying to do conversions in her head when she knew the rates was hard enough, but she was trying to figure out the conversion. A trot is the average distance a pony can travel per trot. That’s something like a few inches. Let’s say five inches. “That’s about 443,520 trots an hour.”

Twilight promptly looked like she was going to have a heart attack and clutched her armrest tighter. “Why would anything need to go that fast?”

Sunset got an evil smile on her face. “Oh, that’s not even the top legal speed. There are roads where we can go even faster, like highways. We can go 950,400 trots on those. And cars can go even faster than that, just not legally. Most cars’ top speed is 1,520,640 trots, and that’s just road cars. Racing cars can go triple that speed easily.”

Twilight’s previously brown skin was now ghostly white, and even the other girls found the look of unbridled horror on her face amusing. She tried to form words, but all that came out were indecipherable noises.

“For reference, humans can run 88,704 trots per hour.”, Sunset said, hoping that would get Twilight working again.

“How long is a ‘trot’?”, Pinkie asked.

“My estimate is about five inches.”

“And how fast are ponies?”, Rainbow asked.

“An average of 60,000 to 90,000 trots, depending on tribe, athleticism, and heritage. Pegasi can fly a bit faster than that, 70,000 to 100,000 trots, but the real speed can be seen with the Wonderbolts.” Sunset placed her hand to her chest and got a proud look on her face. “My big sister can fly at 300,000 trots an hour and is faster than a steam locomotive.”

“That’s a lot slower than the fastest bird, if I got the conversion right.”, Fluttershy said.

“Hey, we’re talking about a one foot tall horse. I don’t see you flying that fast.”, she said indignantly.

“W-w-why?”, Twilight asked.

“Hm, say again?”

“W-why do humans need to go that fast?”

Sunset schooled her voice to sound as comforting as possible. “Well, we have a lot of distance to cover.” She stopped talking for a moment while Rarity hopped out of the car and ran into her house. “The US, the country we’re in, has a land area of 48,115,584,000 trots, and we need to cover that distance somehow. Many people travel this country for their work or to see family.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.” Her color was starting to return, but she still held onto her armrest for dear life. “What about the race cars? Why would anything need to go so fast?”

Rarity loaded her keytar into the back and jumped back in. They were now off to Rainbow’s.

“Just because.”

“Just because isn’t an answer, Sunset.”, Twilight said sternly.

“It is for humans. A lot of human innovation stems from people wanting to see what they can do, how fast they can go, and how far they can go, just for the sake of it. Of course, necessity has also led to great innovation, but those stories aren’t always as fun as ‘just because’ and ‘spite’ stories.”

“Spite?”

“Yeah, spite is an excellent motivator for us.”

They stopped outside Rainbow’s apartment complex, and she ran inside.

“‘Us’, you say that as if you’re human.”

“I am. I am both pony and human, just as I am both unicorn and thestral. I am many things.” That sounds good. A potential mate would understand that, right?

Rainbow rushed back out with her guitar, and they were finally on their way to Sweet Apple Acres.

CHS

Date: same day, time: 12:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

“So, is your mom goin’ ta be taking us to the amphitheater?”, AJ asked Pinkie in a washout tone.

“Yeah, but let’s wait until the gym clears out to get our stuff.”

“That was… unpleasant.”, Twilight said.

The seven girls and Spike retreated to the library stacks to regroup in peace. “There are some desks and chairs over this way.”, Twilight said. She guided them over to two desks with four chairs each. They each took a seat and just sat in silence for a while.

“I’m sorry, Sunset. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”, Rarity said.

“I’m sorry too. I wish I had come up with one of the plans you mentioned.”

“Ugh, I’m just glad my parents weren’t there. That would be way too embarrassing.”, Rainbow said.

“What do you mean?”, Pinkie asked.

“My parents have always been super supportive of me, to an embarrassing degree even. I don’t want them to see me fail. I want to show them how awesome I am.”

Oh crap, our parents! “Are your parents still coming to the finals?”, Sunset asked in a panic.

“Of course they’re coming. They always come.”

“Tell them not to. Text them right now and tell them not to come.”

“Sunset, what’s wrong?”, Fluttershy asked.

“The Dazzlings are what’s wrong.”

Realization dawned in each of the girls’ eyes, and they all pulled out their phones. Sunset followed suit and texted the family chat.

Don’t come to the musical showcase.

Why?
Sunset, what’s wrong.

Evil magic shit’s going down. I’ll explain more

when I get home tonight. Just don’t come.

Are you safe?

I’m fine. My magic is protecting me. I just don’t

know if yours will be enough to protect you.

Okay, we won’t come. But please contact us
as soon as whatever it is is defeated.

Will do

“Slight problem, my parents want to know why they shouldn’t come.”, Rarity said.

“Tell them it was canceled.”, Rainbow said.

“My sister is also in the show. They’ll know I’m lying.”

“Tell them… eh, tell them… Ahh, I got nothing.”, Pinkie said.

“Too bad tellin’ ‘em tha truth won’t work for ya.”

“I got my parents to not come.”, Rainbow said.

“How’d ya do that?”

“Told them that my psychic friend had a premonition that they’d be in danger if they came, so kinda the truth. Will it work on your folks?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t really probed them on their belief in that sorta thing.”

“It might work for my parents.”, Fluttershy said. “They’re really superstitious.”

“What about your parents, Sunset?”, Twilight asked.

“Oh, magic’s old news to them. I just told them the truth and they said to call them after we defeat the BBEGs.”

“BBEGs?”

“Big bad evil guys”, Rainbow clarified.

The seven of them hurried down out of the stacks, but a crowd of angry students blocked the halls. The moment Rainbow opened the doors, the boos and jeers started and they even started throwing shit, and she had to close them.

“Drat, my parents didn’t buy it. They’re still coming.”, Rarity said.

“Then the only thing we can do to keep them safe is beat the Dazzlings!”, Pinkie cheered.

“Yeah, but how do we even get to the gym for our instruments?”, Rainbow asked.

Sunset looked around for any answers and spotted something promising in the glass dome. Maybe we can pull a classic. “Hey, I may have an idea. Follow me.” Sunset led them back up into the stacks and around the perimeter of the glass dome.

“What exactly is your plan? I don’t see a door up here.”, AJ said.

Sunset ignored her until she found the roof access panel. It was the only panel of the dome that could be opened to gain roof access. “You may not see a door, but I do.” She moved some books off the shelves to carve out a ladder and climbed it to get access to the glass. She pulled out her Swiss army knife and used the screwdriver to unscrew the bolts keeping the window closed.

“Ya know we’re not supposed ta have those.”

“Do you really think I, of all people, would care. I’m a reformed bully. Not a reformed rebel.” She finished with the bolts, placing her knife back in her pocket, and opened the panel. She hopped out and motioned for everyone to follow. One by one, the girls climbed up, and Sunset helped them onto the roof.

“Is there a step two to your plan?”, RD asked.

“I didn’t become a war general with half baked plans.” Sunset led them to the side of the building, the side with the doors to the gym. She pulled her shuko out and slipped them on.

“What are those?”

“Shuko, they’re climbing gear.”

“Why do you have climbing gear with you?”

“Because if you’re ever in a fight you can’t win, climb up a tree. Now, I can only carry one of you at a time. So, who wants to go first?”

The rest of the girls looked over the edge and back to Sunset. None of them looked too eager to volunteer.

“Do you want to save the school or not?”

With a mighty breath, Rarity stepped forward. “I’ll go. I’m not letting some glorified fish hurt my family.”

Sunset turned around and patted her shoulder. “Then hopped on.” Rarity did, and Sunset began climbing down the wall. She could feel her magic flow into her arms with the beat of her heart, making the climb almost effortless, even with the added wait. Oh, I like being a werewolf. She dropped Rarity off on the ground then climbed back up.

“Okay, what are you, some sorta ninja?”, Rainbow asked as Sunset climbed back onto the roof.

“Not “some sorta”, I am a ninja. My dad taught me.”

“No way.”

“Yes way. Now, who’s next?” One by one, Sunset got each of the girls down to the ground. RD, apparently excited by knowing a ninja, grinned the whole way down. AJ was a little baby the whole way down and nearly squeezed the air out of Sunset. Even Pinkie, who’s the heaviest of them, was easier to get down, and Fluttershy was less scared than AJ. Actually, she flat out wasn’t scared. “Are you not scared of heights?”

“No, I actually kinda like being high up. I find it comforting.”, Fluttershy answered. She also gave off some sort of energy, but Sunset was concentrating too much on climbing to analyze it.

“You’re going to need to run that by me more later.” The last one down was Twilight, and although nervous, didn’t hold onto Sunset like a vise-grip. “Everyone good?”

“Yeah, we’re good. Why didn’t you ever tell us you’re a ninja?”, RD asked.

“It never exactly came up in conversation, and it is supposed to stay a secret.”

“Talk ninja business later.”, AJ said. “Let’s get our instruments and get ta tha amphitheater.”

The seven of them rushed inside, ready to save the day.

Pinkie’s house

Date: same day, time: 8:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

“How long ago did dese thin’s come ta Earth?”, Brigid asked over the phone.

“I’ll ask.” Sunset covered the receiver and turned to Twilight. “Hey, how and when did the sirens get to Earth?”

“Oh, a thousand years ago, Star Swirl the bearded sent them here thinking that there wasn’t any magic and that they couldn’t do any harm.”

“Well, that clearly wasn’t true.” Sunset turned back to her phone and relayed the information to Brigid. The seven girls followed Pinkie up to her room, and the rest of the girls got their PJs on while Sunset regaled her mother with the day’s events.

“Wha’ did ya do with da gem pieces?”

“The sirens gathered most a’ ‘em up when they scrammed, but they did leave some of da smaller pieces behind. I swept ‘em up n’ got ‘em in a baggie.”

“Do ya think dey could be responsible f’r da magic loss?”

“That is a possibility, or it could just be correlation not causation. More research will be needed.”

“I’ll head ta da college library tamarrah. Ah know sirens used ta be depicted as bird-like creatures with human faces but are now thought a’ as mermaid-like creatures, like da sirens ya fought. Ah’ll see wha’ da mythology department has on ‘em.”

“I’d like ta come with ya when ya do.”

“Alright, Ah’ll pick ya up tamarrah. Love ya.”

“Love ya too.” Sunset hung up the phone and joined her friends on the floor.

“What was that all about?”, Rainbow asked.

“My mom’s been researching instances where Equoesain creatures might’ve crossed over to Earth and other such supernatural events since we found a mummified cockatrice.”

“You found a cockatrice?”, Twilight asked.

“What’s a cockatrice?”, Fluttershy asked.

“A very dangerous creature native to Equestria.”, Sunset answered.

“I’ve also found reports of humans ending up in Equestria.”, Twilight said.

“Well, it sounds like this is going to be a joint research project.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you guys can do that later. This is a sleepover.”, Rainbow interjected.

“She is right.”, Twilight said.

“Of course, I’m right. Sunset, get your PJs on, and let’s start sleepovering.”

Sunset nodded and grabbed her PJs and left for the bathroom to change into them as Fluttershy mumbled about how ‘sleepovering isn’t a word’. As she pulled her pajama top over her head, her right arm began to feel itchy and like it was near a flame. Once she got her shirt on, Sunset pulled her sleeve back to examine the irritated area. It was the spot where her doll rash once was, the rash she got from reaching into that evil aura created by that Anni Bell doll all those years ago. It was back, same shape, same size, same everything. “Weird” She turned on the sink and ran the irritated area under the water. Faint, golden wisps of light danced over the area, and the rash faded from existence once again, taking the irritating sensations with it. Sunset’s eyes widened at the sight. “Was that faoladh magic?”

“Something’s coming.”

Sunset spun around and frantically looked around the bathroom. “Who’s there?” The hairs on her body stood on end. She felt like she was being watched, but there was no one else there, but her gut was telling her there was, and there’s that voice. Okay, if there was someone else here, there are eleven other people in the house that can hear me scream.

Sunset turned back around and turned off the water. She dried off and took a moment to compose herself before grabbing her clothes and heading back to Pinkie’s room.

“I don’t get why it’s such an issue. There’s nothing wrong with your bodies.”, Twilight was saying as Sunset walked back in.

“What’s going on?”, Sunset asked as she sat down. She noticed Pinkie giving her an odd look. Can she sense something’s wrong, is my act slipping, or is she just being Pinkie?

“We’re trying to explain to Twilight why we wear clothes, but she’s not getting it.”, Rarity explained.

“I get why you wear clothes. I just don’t get why it’s socially unacceptable to not wear clothes.”

“Let me put it like this, one a’ us walkin’ around without any clothes on would be like somepony walking around without their fur.”

Twilight’s face twisted into one of disgust. “That would be obscene.”

“Ayuh”

“Onto other topics,” Pinkie interjected, “I’ve been dying to know, why did you steal the crown?”

“I think she made her intentions pretty clear that night.”, Twilight said confusedly.

“No, not really. I’d imagine that this will be hard for you to understand as this is a very human thing, but I’ll try my best. We have these things called intrusive thoughts and dark fantasies. Humans have a natural fascination with the darker side of the universe. What if I did this? What if this happened? Mine was, “What if I conquered Equestria?”. Intrusive thoughts are a bit more complicated, but the basics are that they’re our dark sides showing themselves. That’s what the school counselor and I believe happened that night. Fueled by the magic, my mental turmoil fed off my dark fantasies and intrusive thoughts in order to turn them into reality. None of that was what I really wanted.”

“Okay, I’m not entirely sure I understand.”

“My shrink says our dark sides exist to act as our weapons against people or things that wish to hurt us,” Rainbow said, “but if we lose control over these weapons, it can cause us and those around us great harm.”

“I still don’t entirely get it, but I think I understand enough. Demon you wasn’t actually you but a human ability you lost control over.”

“Close enough”, Sunset said.

“You also mentioned something about “what happens when an Element of Harmony is brought into another world”. What was that about?”

“You really don’t know about the time Grandal the griffin stole the Element of Kindness?”, Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I do not.”

“Okay, well, long story short, Grandal tried to steal the Elements of Harmony but only got the Element of Kindness and took it through a portal to an unknown world and used it to fight against Celestia when she went after him to get it back. Bringing any magical item through such a portal messes with its attunement, opening it up to being used by another, and specifically with the Elements of Harmony, their attunement prerequisites are directly tied to Equestrian society. Bringing them so far away from Equestria weakens their connection to it enough so that anyone could use them. That’s why he was able to use it, but it wasn’t enough to beat Celestia… To put it in Earth terms, I unplugged the security system.”

“So, why did you steal the crown?”, Pinkie asked impatiently.

Well, I had to tell them eventually. The mere thought of the topic threatened to make Sunset cry. She closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths to calm herself. It was only when she felt calm enough did she open her eyes to answer. “I stole the crown to save my little sister.” All the girls gave Sunset worried looks, so she continued. “Three years ago, my sister was diagnosed with leukemia,” realizing Twilight might not know what that is, she clarified, “a deadly disease. Two and a half years ago, I stole a relic called the Goldhoof Stone in an attempt to cure her. It didn’t work. I’m not entirely sure why it didn’t work, but I theorized that the raw magic of the Element of Magic wouldn’t be rejected, or whatever happened, and that did turn out to be correct. That’s why I stole it.”

“Sunset, you could’ve just told us what was going on. Celestia and I would’ve done everything in our power to help.”, Twilight said.

“I realize that now, but back then, I was too sick to even think of that. I kick myself everyday for it. My own failings put my own sister’s life in danger.” Sunset had considered telling her the whole truth but decided against it. She didn’t deserve to have her world destroyed like hers was. She might learn the truth one day, but it wouldn’t be from Sunset.

“Mental illness isn’t a failin’, Sunset.”, AJ said.

“Yeah, that’s something else the counselor and I are working on. I have a long road ahead of me.”

“How’s your sister now?”, Fluttershy asked.

“Better, she has the energy she needs to continue fighting. The doctors are hoping that we can do a bone marrow transplant later this year or early next year.”

“Do you have a doner?”

Sunset pointed up to herself.

“Aw, that’s sweet.”

“Earth has organ transplants too?”, Twilight asked.

“Equestria developed organ transplants? That’s impressive.”, Sunset said.

“How does Earth do it without magic?”

“Well…” Sunset explained the whole transplant process. She probably did it in too much detail as, by the time she was done, Twilight looked sick. “Too much detail?”

Twilight weakly nodded. “You thestrals really are blood fiends.”

“Yes, yes we are.”, Sunset said with a fox-like smile that showed off her fangs.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“You make it too easy.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned back to the other girls. Sunset laid on her side and watched the rest of the girls interact. Fluttershy and Rainbow were leaning against each other, giving each other lovey-dovey eyes, and the other four were equally talking amongst themselves.

“So…”, Fluttershy said.

“‘So’ what?”, Rainbow asked.

“You let us play one of my songs tonight, but that doesn’t fully make up for your behavior this last month.”

“Oh, right. I’m sorry. I was being an egotistical idiot.”

“Yeah, you were.” Fluttershy snuggled up to Rainbow.

This is nice.

“Hey, Sunset.”, Rainbow said.

“Hm, what?”

“Can you teach me ta be a ninja?”

Okay, here we go. “Learning ta be a ninja ain’t easy, and it takes a lot of dedication.”

“Hey, I’m the captain of most of the sports teams at CHS. I got the dedication.”

That is true, and she does likely already have a couple principles down. “Okay, but all ninja knowledge, and even the knowledge we are ninjas, needs ta stay between those in this room. Being a ninja gets a lot harder when people know about you.”

“Got it.”, RD said with a salute.

Let’s just hope nobody believes her.