CHS, Lily’s locker

Date: Dec 9th, time: 8:20 am

*Lily’s perspective*

Sunset Shimmer, Sunset Shimmer, that’s all people are talking about. Rarity let slip yesterday that Sunset’s sister has cancer and a transplant was finally okayed for her and that Sunset would be the doner. That attention whore probably told her to tell people that. I bet she doesn’t even have a sister. I’ve never seen her or even heard her talk about her.

“There’s still some post-op stuff and checks the doctors are gonna do ta make sure it’s really gone, but yeah, Emi’s cancer free.”, Sunset said to a group of… of… students. ‘Students’ that’s the word.

Their lockers were down the hall from each other, so she could hear everything Sunset said. Just look at her. She’s basking in the attention, and “Emi” is such a fake name. She doesn’t even look like she just got an organ taken out. I know you’re planning something. You’re always planning something. Before she could figure it out, another headache struck. She quickly grabbed her pills and water bottle and quickly took a dose. She pressed her head into her arm to help with the pain and the dizziness. As soon as the pressure got down to a manageable level, she put everything back. Damn, nearly out again. Okay, gotta go to the… to the… what was I just thinking about? Right right, meds, gotta get more.

Lily closed up her locker and began walking to class. She ran into Daisy on the way, and she ignored her as they walked.

“Hey, Lily.” ... “Come on, Lily. Say something.” … “What the hell’s up with you. Your behavior is getting worse, and you’ve been behaving like a big baby.”

Lily turned her nose up and hurried up her walk. She wanted nothing to do with any of her family. Her parents sided with Sunset, and Daisy sided with their parents.

“Why are you so obsessed with Sunset, of all people? You two barely even spoke before you suddenly decided that you hate her.”

“Because I…” Why do I hate her? All she remembered was sitting across from her during lunch back in middle school and then suddenly feeling a deep hatred for her. It made no sense, but her memory has been bad for a couple of years, so maybe she just didn’t remember what Sunset had done. Whatever, she has it coming. “I hate her, that’s why.”

“That’s not a reason.”

Lily ignored her sister and continued to class. Getting through the day was hard. Despite all the meds Dr. Baethan had her on, she still had trouble focusing and remembering anything in class. She kept zoning out, and it felt like her brain was in a fog. She knew she was doing horribly on everything, which only made her more anxious and made her depressive symptoms worse. It was a major relief when the bell rang and she could go home.

The sound of Sunset’s friends talking sparked her interest, and she hid behind a corner to listen in.

“Come on, we want to go ice skating.”, Sweetie Belle said.

“I’m sorry, but we have to train.”, Rarity said.

“You guys are always trainin’.”, Bloom complained.

“That thing in tha woods is gonna try ta eat us, n’ we need ta be prepared for when it ties.”, AJ explained.

“This is totally uncool.”, Scootaloo said with a huff.

“It is what it is, Squirt. We’re the only ones with magic, so we have ta deal with it.”, RD said.

“Come on, we need to get going.”, Sunset said.

The three older sisters said their goodbyes, and six sets of footsteps walked away. Three sets of smaller footsteps walked towards Lily. I hear opportunity knocking.

The three walked in front of her, and Lily took the opportunity. “Hello, girls.”

The three of them jumped and looked at her with some fear or worry in their eyes. “Hi”, Bloom said.

“Sounds like Sunset’s taking your sisters away from you. It’s her fault they have magic, and now she’s making them train to use powers they never asked for. Doesn’t that make you mad? I can fix that for you.” And hurt Sunset in the process.

The three looked between each other then back at Lily. “We should go.”, Bloom said. All three girls scampered off in a hurry, but her seeds were sown. They just needed time to grow. I’ll slip my email in her locker tomorrow. I’ll just follow her to it, a simple enough plan.

Lily headed outside and got on the bus with Daisy. She kept her eyes on the road to keep from getting nauseous. She missed the days before she got car sick so easily, but Dr. Baethan says she needs to take the meds and just deal with the side effects. They got dropped off at home and went about the rest of their day. Before Lily goes to bed, she has to take her night pills. They’re less than her morning pills but still a good few. It was a pain, but she’d been taking them since middle school so was used to it.

“There’s something wrong with her!”, Daisy shouted. “That’s not my sister anymore.”

Lily turned her attention fully to the conversation.

“Sigh, we can schedule another appointment with Dr. Baethan.”, Dad said.

“No! He’s the one that put her on all that crap!”

“We don’t have the money to see anyone else.”, Mom explained. “Our insurance will only pay if we visit doctors contracted with them.”

“Ugh, that’s so stupid. Who decided it would work like that, a bunch a’ billionaires that couldn’t care less about us?!” Daisy stomped back to the girls’ room and slammed the door.

There’s no way I’m ever going back to him. He’s the only person I hate more than Sunset.

CHS cafeteria

Date: Dec 10th, time: 12:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

“So, yeah, my sister’s gonna be okay.”, Sunset said to the umpteenth student to ask about her.

“Good, but man, no wonder you were such a bitch.”, the student then walked away.

“Don’t take that as an excuse! I was still a bitch!” Sunset turned her attention from the kid to Rarity and glared at her. “I’m still mad you let that slip.”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was supposed to go in the ‘top secret’ box. Why were you even trying to keep it a secret?”

“For the same reason I’m keeping the ET stuff secret. I don’t want the attention. There’s also the fact that it’s private medical information. I also didn’t want everyone to think I was making excuses for myself. Those were all purely my actions, and I don’t want people attributing them to my sister’s condition.”

“Give it a couple more days. Everyone will have moved on by then.”, Pinkie said. “Speaking of the future, what’s everyone’s plans for Christmas?”

Everyone gave various answers that were either ‘family dinner’, ‘traveling to see family’, or ‘winter getaway’.

“Sounds like most a’ us ain’t gonna around durin’ Christmas.”, AJ said.

“That’s nothing new.”, RD said. “I’m a bit jealous of you, Fluttershy. You get to spend a week on beaches while I’m LA bound.”

“I wish I was going to LA.”, Rarity said. “Hollywood, the stars, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, I’ve always wanted to go.”

“I’m not going anywhere near any of that. My family lives in the Pacoima neighborhood.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Exactly, famous people never go there. The only relevance it had ended in the nineties.”

“Hey, Rare, I’d recommend staying away from freshwater bodies.”, Sunset said.

“Oh, I know. We aren’t going anywhere near any alligators.”

“Oh, no, the gators are the least of your problems. I was talking about the brain-eating amoebas.”

“The what?”, Rarity deadpanned.

“Yeah, warm freshwater is the perfect breeding ground for them. If you plan on rinsing your sinuses, make sure you boil the water first. That’s how it reaches your brain, up your nose.”

The look of mild, panicked horror on Rarity’s face was enjoyable enough that it made up for the last few days of unwanted attention.

“Are ya bein’ serious or just messin’ with her?”, AJ asked.

“Oh, she’s being one-hundred percent serious.”, Fluttershy answered.

“I kinda wanna do something together before Christmas.”, Pinkie said.

“Let me guess, a sleepover.”

“Oh, that’s perfect. The week leading up to Christmas, we spend a night at each of our houses. How does that sound?”

“Um, you do remember how small my place is, right?”, RD asked.

“We made it work in the past.”

“Yeah, when we were smaller and there were fewer of us.”

“I’m sure we can still do it, and a couple of us could sleep in your room, if necessary.”

“True… okay, I’m in.”

Pinkie looked at the rest of the girls. They all either gave ‘okay’s or ‘I’ll ask my parents’. “Great, sounds like we have a plan.”

The day went on, and Sunset had to deal with kids asking about her sister every passing period. It was both sweet that they cared and annoying that she had to deal with people more than she was intending and they were taking up so much of her limited time. The plan was that she would come back to school like nothing happened and recover in peace, but nope, that got defenestrated. Defenestrated, what a fun word, almost as fun as Backpfeifengesicht. At least I know which one of us is actually the gossip, and this wasn’t life shattering, but it will need to be corrected. In hindsight, it should’ve been obvious, but Rainbow’s boisterous attitude concealed Rarity’s more subtle history of gossiping. It takes time to change a part of yourself, but we don’t have that luxury.

As soon as classes let out for the day, Sunset hurried down to Celestia’s office. “Hello, Principal Celestia.”

“Yes, Sunset, come in.”

Sunset took a seat across from Celestia and pulled out her job application. “I need you to approve or do whatever it is the state wants in order for me to get a job.”

“You want to get a job?”

“My grades are good, and I have plenty of free time on my hands.”

“Why do you want a job?”

“I’m pretty sure the answer’s self evident. Look, whatever you’re doing right now, I’ve been around for thirty years, I’ve been in my home country’s military. I should be able to get a civilian job.”

“Fair enough, I’ll approve your application.”

Sunset handed over her application, and Celestia looked over then signed it. Sunset took it back and stood. “Thank you” She left the office and headed to the band room. One more thing done, now just twenty more things ta do. Aye yai yai

Shellie River Park

Date: Dec 15th, time: 7:00 am

*Jiraiya’s perspective*

Christmas is coming up, it’s freezing out, and we’re down three nurses. We’re screwed. With my luck, some new arsonist that hates Christmas will show up. Huh, Fire Grinch, no, Burning Grinch…

“Hey, Earth to Jiraiya.”, Torta said.

“Huh, sorry, I got lost in thought.”

“What were you thinking about?”

Jiraiya looked out over the park. From their bench, he could see a frozen lake families would start skating on soon, acres of snow covered grass and trees, and houses across the street. There had to be hundreds of houses in the neighborhood that surrounds the park, hundreds of families. How many of them will see the new year? “Christmas isn’t a good time for me. People are dumb and reckless, accidents happen, and people end up in the ICU.”

“Oh, I guess this is ze busy season for everyone. Well, you’re off work right now. Time for ze doctor to take a break.”

“You’re right, but it’s not just the doctor getting antsy. The father in me is also on edge.” Jiraiya took a moment to breathe as memories of traumatized little kids sitting in the weighting room flashed in his mind. “There are always kids, every year.”

“Well, if it’s an inevitability, why fret? There’s nothing you can do to prevent it, so constantly thinking about it will only wound you up.”

“I suppose… Fair warning, this happens every year.”

Jiraiya was no psychic, but he’d been around the block a few times, several of which were with a trickster spirit. He knew enough to tell when someone was being devious, and Torta had a devious look to her. “Y’know, I’m starting to get a bit cold.”, she said as she leaned in closer to Jiraiya.

“Aren’t you Russians supposed to be immune to the cold?”

Torta glared at him.

Jiraiya got the hint and decided to play along. “Perhaps we should wrap this up and go somewhere warmer.”

“Warmer, you say? Any specific place in mind?”

“I was thinking my apartment.”

“Hm, that sounds nice.”

They stood up and took each other’s arms. I almost forgot how this feels. It feels so good.

Everfree Forest

Date: same day, time: 5:30 pm

*Rarity’s perspective*

“Where exactly are we goin’?”, Dr. Brigid asked Sunset.

“To the training grounds.”

The girls hiked further into the forest with Sunset leading. They all, minus Sunset, had flashlights or headlamps to light the way since the trees blocked the moon. Pinkie’s plan to have each of them sleep over at each other’s places had the unintended advantage of gathering them together during the full moon, and they were able to take advantage of Sunset’s turn to actually get out there. Good thing Sunset’s parents are so lenient. There’s no way mom and dad would ever let me do this. Even though Dr. Brigid knows they can handle themselves, she still came along so the rest of their parents wouldn’t scream at her if they ever found out.

“How far in are dese trainin’ grounds?”

“We don’t exactly want randos stumbling across us while we’re witching.”

“Rainbow! C’n ya see enough ta do dat safely?!”, Dr. Brigid asked, quickly turning her attention to Rainbow.

Rainbow was doing what they’ve come to expect the fly-girl to do, flying around and weaving through the trees. “I can see well enough.”

“Ah c’n barely see, n’ Ah’m a werewolf. N’ last time Ah checked, ya ain’t a thestral.”, she countered.

“At least she’s going slowly.”, Sunset remarked.

They reached the training grounds, and Rainbow landed.

“Dese are da trainin’ grounds?”

“There are markers up in the trees, and the spacing of the trees themselves are perfect for flight training.”, Sunset elaborated.

“Ah see.” Dr. Brigid walked off to the side of the training grounds and took a seat under a tree.

The six girls gathered together in a circle. The moon broke through the trees and provided them with some needed light.

“AJ, remember when we were testing your earth pony magic?”, Sunset asked.

“Yeah, ya want me ta try it again?”

“Yes, I mostly wanna see if we can do more under the full moon.”

“I wanna see how fast I can fly. I’ll stay above the trees.”, RD said.

“Alright, but be careful.”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll be careful, Mom.”

“I’m just trying to keep you safe. I’m the reason you have these powers, so I’m responsible for you.”

“Alright, alright” Rainbow lifted off at full speed up into the heavens.

“I’ll keep an eye on her.”, Fluttershy said then quickly flew after her.

AJ headed over to the trees, and Sunset headed over to her mother, leaving Rarity and Pinkie alone. Both of them looked at each other with similar questioning looks. Neither of them did much on testing day. What could they do? Rarity couldn’t cast spells, and psychic abilities didn’t exactly have an on/off switch.

“I’m gonna walk around, try to get my Pinkie sense tingling.” Pinkie skipped off, leaving just Rarity.

Rarity looked around. AJ was communing with the trees, RD and Fluttershy were out of sight, and Sunset was doing something with her mother watching. I might as well. Rarity walked over to them and looked at what Sunset was doing. She was drawing in a notebook. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, Rarity, I’m drawing spell circles. They’re the only way I can cast spells. Do you want me to teach you?”

Rarity sat down and nodded.

“Alright, look this over.” Sunset handed over the notebook. On the open page was a circle with the word ‘ice’ written inside with another circle inside with a star inside of it. “The trick to these is knowing what you want. This is an ice spell. Imagine what shape you want it to take then place your hand on the circle.”

Rarity nodded and closed her eyes to think. She imagined a diamond sculpture, like her symbol, and placed her hand on the circle. Her hand heated up, and she could feel her blood and magic pulsing in it. The paper shifted under her hand, causing her to pull away, and she opened her eyes just in time to see it form into the shape of her symbol while turning into ice. It stood on its tip for a split second then flopped forward. Sunset picked it up and handed it to Rarity. Rarity took off one of her gloves to really feel it. The logical part of her mind was still in disbelief that it was real. She ran her fingers over its surface. It was cold and smoothe like fancy bar ice, and it melted under the heat of her fingers. It was real and really made out of ice. She had really made a six inch, diamond ice sculpture.

“Wow”

“Dat’s really pretty.”

“It seems like you have a knack for ice magic.”, Sunset commented.

“I just made an ice sculpture.”, Rarity said in disbelief.

“You did. Ready to learn how to draw the circle yourself?”

Rarity nodded, and Sunset explained the process. It was pretty simple, and she was quickly able to make her own. Sunset let her use the notebook and watched as she made ever more elaborate ice sculptures, making swans, their other friends’ symbols, fulgurites, and whatever else she could think of.

“This is incredible. What else can I do?”

“Just about anything. Though, you’ll only be able to do things that large under a full moon, at least until we gain better control over our magic. The fireballs I can make normally are much smaller than what I’ve made tonight.”

“Show me.”

Sunset took the book back and drew a fire spell and casted it. The resulting fireball was at least the size of a grapefruit. It could’ve been bigger. Sunset held it in her hand, but she showed no sign of pain, nor was her glove catching on fire.

“Isn’t it hot?”

“It is, but my aura’s protecting me, and I have it extended to cover my clothes. It’s something our bodies do automatically when we’re doing magic.”

“Our bodies automatically put up a magic shield?”, Rarity said with a raised eyebrow.

“No, it’s always up. It just hardens against the type of magic we’re using, and we have naturally greater resistance to magics we have an affinity for.”

“Weird”

“Not really. Remember, magic’s nothing new ta humans, and this ability is essential ta magic usage lest we suffer the effects of our own magic.”

“Okay, does this mean you’re fireproof?”

“Fire and heat resistant, I can still be burned.”

“Does it also work for non-magical sources?”

“Yes”

“Hey!”, AJ called out. All three of them looked up to see AJ approaching. She came over to them and sat down with something in her hand. “Take a look at this.” AJ opened up her hand to reveal a little seedling. “Ah broke this branch off a tree n’ managed ta make it viable with ma magic.”

“Dat’s incredible.”, Dr. Brigid said in amazement.

“Yeah, this will be very helpful on tha farm.”

“I feel safe in saying that the effects of the full moon lets us access more of our magic.”, Sunset said. “Speaking of us, where is the other half of us?”

“Ah saw Pinkie bouncin’ around the forest.”

“She said she wanted to get her Pinkie sense tingling.”, Rarity explained.

“I wish I could read that girl’s mind. Ya gotta wonder what’s going on up there.”, Sunset mused.

“Ah feel like ya’d get diabetes jus’ from readin’ dat girl’s mind.”, Dr. Brigid said.

Before the conversation could go any further, Rainbow and Fluttershy landed. “Hey! Guys! Look at how fast I can fly!”, RD shouted as she ran over to them. She held out her phone that was opened to the stopwatch app, reading 10 minutes. “That’s how long it took me to get to the bay and back.”

“Impressive, dat would put ya at sixty miles per hour.”

“Eh, I could probably go faster. I didn’t feel like I was going at my max speed.”

“What kept you from going faster?”, Sunset asked.

“I didn’t feel safe going much faster, and I felt like I was going at my max sustainable speed. Would calling it a ‘jog’ be correct?... Oh, cruising speed, that’s it. What would be the flying version of ‘sprinting’?”

“Well, the closest English translation for the Ponish word I can think of would be ‘full speed flight’.”

“Aren’t you guys cold?”, Fluttershy asked.

“I’m half Russian. Cold is meaningless to me.”, Rarity said smugly.

“She’s also an ice magic user, so that helps.”, Sunset added. “I, for one, wish I had my fur.”

“We should probably wrap thin’s up.” Dr. Brigid stood up, prompting Sunset and Rarity to stand as well. “Now, where’s Ms. Suga’?”

“I’ll look for her.” RD flew off then turned back around. “Which way did she go?”

AJ pointed her in the direction she last saw Pinkie, and RD flew off into the forest.

“We can get goin’. They know tha way back.”, AJ said.

“Ah don’t feel comfortable with dat. Dey c’n’t call if dere’s a problem.”

“Ahh, good point.”

“What do you mean? We aren’t that far in.”, Rarity asked.

“Nobody knows why, but no wireless signals work once ya get like a quarter a’ a mile inta da Everfree, radios, satellite phones, no signal can pass through dese trees.”

“I’d bet it has something ta do with all the spiritual energy this place has everywhere.”, Sunset said.

“Wha’ do ya mean?”, Dr. Brigid asked, taking the words right out of the rest of their mouths.

“Rainbow might be able to explain it better since her powers are primarily spirit based, but to me, this place has a lot of background white “noise”, for lack of a better descriptor. It limits my sensing range and makes it hard to pick up on small details, and spiritual energy is said to interfere with electronics and wireless signals.”

“Weird, but it makes sense with all the legends surrounding this forest.”, Rarity said.

Their conversation was once again interrupted by Rainbow landing, this time carrying Pinkie.

“Good, we were waitin’ on you, and Ah’m cold.”, AJ said. She wrapped her arms around herself.

“Did you get your Pinkie sense tingling?”, Sunset asked.

“Talking while walking, Ah’m cold.”

At AJ urging, they got underway out of the forest.

“To answer your question,” Pinkie said, “yes and no, it got activated a lot. I have a pounding headache.”

“Mo fella might be able ta teach ya ta shut out da noise.”

“Your fella?”

“Mo husband, he uses his sensin’ abilities as a replacement fer his sight, but dat means his is… ove’ developed. He knows how ta pull his in.”

“I use a similar technique to sneak up on you.”, Sunset said. “It’s like plugging your nose, but I’m pretty bad at it.”

“Dat’s because y’re too anxious.”

“I’ll add that to my list of issues.”

“I’ve only had the over activation problem here, but if we’re going to be spending more time here, that might be something I should learn. Ooh, we can all have ninja lessons with Sunset and her dad.”

“Remember last time we all tried that?”, AJ asked.

“I think you might like the more physical aspects.”, RD said. “I certainly enjoyed that part more.”

“You nearly hit your head on a brick last time.”, Sunset remarked.

“It was still more fun than meditating.”

“Ah’ll think about it.”, AJ said.

Katon family home

Date: same day, time: 7:30 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

The Rainbooms entertained themselves in Sunset’s room, but Sunset herself wasn’t in there. Instead, she walked over to the living room, where Anzhong and Brigid were “watching” TV. Sunset carried a notebook with a fire spell prepared.

“Hey, Mom, could you cast this spell?”

“Ya want me ta cast a spell?”

“Yes, just imagine energy flowing from your body into the circle and imagine a fireball.”

“Okay, Ah’ll do mo best.” Brigid placed her hand on the spell, and it erupted into blue flames. A massive, basketball sized blue fireball rose from the page, and it was hot. Even with her fire affinity, Sunset had to take a step back because of the heat, and Anzhong scooted to the other side of the sofa. Brigid clearly had a fire magic affinity, maybe even sun magic, and a lot of it. Luckily, it only lasted as long as a normal fireball. “Wow, neat. So, ya don’t need ta be a witch ta use spell circles?”

“No, but you do need to have magic of some kind.” So, faoladh magic isn’t why my fireballs have turned red. That can only mean my demon transformation has altered my magic. This is unprecedented. As excited as Sunset was to make such a discovery, the potential implications also worried her.

Lily & Daisy’s bedroom

Date: same day, time: 6:00 pm

*Lily’s perspective*

Lily sat on her bed with her laptop on her lap. Since it was nearing Christmas break, the teachers were giving out light homework, except for Ms. Harshwhinny. She was giving out double homework. “Ms. Harshwhinny is a bitch.”

“For once, I agree.”, Daisy said from her bunk.

An email notification popped up on her laptop. Applebloom, a nickname in line with her sister’s, and she’s finally accepted my offer.

//Applejack ditched me to hang at Sunset’s again. We have a lot of planning to do for our trip, and she’s going to be hanging out with her “coven” all week. She never used to spend this much time with her friends. I want her back.//

A coven? Well, what else do you call a group of… of… damn it! Whatever, Sunset had a habit of collecting embarrassing secrets. Time to make it look like she’s gone back to her old ways. //Glad you’ve finally come to see sense. We need to show your sister and her friends that Sunset hasn’t changed. We need some embarrassing information about your sister.//

//Why do we need that? Don’t you have proof that Sunset hasn’t changed.//

//Sunset likes spreading that kind of information. I’ll make it look like she’s the one that disseminated it. Unfortunately, I don’t have the evidence I need to prove to your sister that she hasn’t changed. Sunset is very good at manipulating people, including your sister. She will require more than I have to be convinced.//

//Are you sure? Applejack’s really good at telling when people are lying. I think it has something to do with her being a witch.//

Applejack is a witch? I’ll deal with that info later. //She might not be exactly lying to your sister. You can manipulate people while still being completely honest. That just goes to show Sunset’s skill, and how dangerous she is.//

//Alright, Applejack has a childhood nickname, Piggly Wiggly. She’s super embarrassed by it.//

//Does Sunset know of this nickname?//

//No chance, not even Rarity knows of that nickname.//

//This won’t work if Sunset doesn’t know about it.//

//I can fix that.//

//Do it then. I’ll take care of the rest.//

Now then, how to make it look like Sunset’s doing?

Pinkie’s room

Date: Dec 16th, time: 8:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Ew! Pinkie! That’s gross!”, Rarity shouted as Pinkie chased with a booger.

“Fear the booger! The booger germs must spread!”

“Will one of you stop her!”

The rest of the girls were too busy laughing their asses off to even respond. Seeing that the rest of them were useless, Rarity grabbed Pinkie’s arm and wrist and flipped her onto her bed.

“Oof, okay, you win. I surrender.”

“You’re all useless.”, Rarity said with a huff.

The rest of them took a moment to compose themselves, then they all resumed what they were previously doing.

“Ugh, Pinkie, go wash your hands.”, RD said.

“What, you scared?” Pinkie waggled her booger finger at RD.

“Watch it, or I’ll bite that finger off. I heard it would be like biting through a carrot.”

Pinkie pulled her finger back and got up to leave the room. “I’ll be right back.”

AJ, Sunset, and RD were about to restart their game when AJ got a call. “Hello”

“Hey, AJ, just checking in on ya.”, Bloom said.

“Oh, Ah’m doin’ fine.”

“Okay, see ya in tha mornin’, Piggly Wiggly.”

AJ’s face went red, and she ended the call.

“Piggly Wiggly?”, Sunset asked.

“Wait, what?”, RD asked.

“Ya heard that!?”

“Werewolf and thestral hearing.” Sunset wiggled her ears for emphasis. “What kind of nickname is ‘Piggly Wiggly’?”

AJ’s face got even redder, and she looked like she wanted to crawl under the bed. “Uh, when Ah was a baby, Ah played with tha pigs in tha pigpen, so Granny started callin’ me that. But please don’t tell anyone about it. It’s super embarrassin’.”

“Ooh, AJ asking me ta keep a secret. What has the world come to?”

“Yeah yeah, ha ha.”

Sunset smirked as she thought of a way to mess with another one of her friends. “You hear that, Rarity? No gossiping.”

“What, me? I would never tell a secret. Well, except I might tell Amethyst and Lyra… oh and maybe Muffins.”, Rarity said with a smirk then got serious. “I am sorry I let that slip.”

Sunset brushed her off and returned to her game.

“Your secret is safe with me.”, Fluttershy said.

“I won’t tell anyone… other than Pinkie Pie.” RD jumped up and moved towards the door.

“Oh, no ya don’t.” AJ jumped up and tackled Rainbow to the floor.

“Ow, okay okay, I was only joking.”

“Ah didn’t find it funny.”

“Hey! Are we going to play are not? I’m tired of all these interruptions.”, Sunset said to break up the fight.

“Alright, we’re comin’.”

That’s better.

Lily & Daisy’s bedroom

Date: same day, time: 8:00 pm

*Lily’s perspective*

By lunchtime tomorrow, Applejack will be the week’s laughing stalk. Anon-a-Miss, a name fitting the president Sunset’s other aliases set, and color coding to match her. Lily put the finishing touches on the profile and activated it. And now for my… Sunny’s first post.

“Lily, what are you doing?”, Mom asked.

Lily quickly closed the window, switching to the homework window. “Homework”

“Getting it out of the way before Christmas, good thinking.”

“Yeah, Ms. Harshwinny gave everyone extra homework.”

“Really? What a killjoy.”

“Yeah, I should really get back to it.”

“Alright, I’ll leave ya to it.” Mom left the room.

Lily reopened the window and got back to work. You’re done for, Sunset Shimmer.

Outside CHS

Date: Dec 17th, time: 8:05 am

*Applejack’s perspective*

“Okay, so tonight is Fluttershy’s night.”, Pinkie said.

The Rainbooms sat around and on the Wondercolt statue. The school’s snow removal service was diligent, so they weren’t sitting in a snow pile.

“We should stop by the convenience store to pick snacks.”, Fluttershy said.

“We can do someone else tonight, if you need more time to prepare.”

“That’s not the problem. My brother will eat any snacks in the house, even hidden in my room.”

“That’s… something to unpack.”

“Looks like he doesn’t give a shit about any sort of boundaries.”, Sunset said with venom.

“He’s only twelve.”, Fluttershy defended.

“A, that six foot freak is twelve?! He has chin stubble. And B, my nine-year-old sister doesn’t do that. How is that kind of behavior tolerated in your house?”

“Her parents are too big a’ pussies ta properly discipline him.”, RD said.

“That’s pathetic. He’s going to end up as a man-child because no punishment was ever enforced.”

“Ugh, I know.”, Fluttershy groaned.

A couple of students walked past them as they were heading to the building. AJ’s magically enhanced hearing allowed her to hear snippets of their conversation, and a couple of words caught her attention. Did they just say ‘Piggly Wiggly’?

AJ sprang up, alerting the rest of them. “We need to head inside.”

“What, the southerner cold again?”, RD quipped, but a glare from AJ shut her up. “Yeah, okay, we’re coming.”

The rest of them hopped up, and they hurried inside. There were about a dozen students milling about the lobby and a few more in the immediate halls. One of the students looked over at them then started laughing. “Yo! What’s up, Piggly Wiggly!” That got the attention of the rest of the kids, and they all started laughing.

It got out! How? AJ’s blood started to boil along with her magic. Before even she had fully processed it, she was across the room and had the kid by his shirt. “Where did you hear that name?”, she growled in his face.

“On-on Instabook, he-here.” The boy pulled out his phone and opened the app.

AJ took the phone and let the boy go. The rest of the girls crept up behind AJ and peered over her shoulders. “Who is this Anon-a-Miss? How did they…?” AJ turned around to face her friends. “We need to talk.”

“Um, can I have my phone back?”

AJ shoved the phone back into the kid’s hands then led the girls to the library and into the stacks. The moment they were deep enough, AJ spun around and gave each of the girls a death stair. “How did this get out?”, she said through gritted teeth.

“Hey, don’t look at me.”, Pinkie defended. “I’ve kept it a secret for ten years. I’m not about to spill it now… or I guess ‘wasn’t’.”

“You know?”, AJ asked in surprise.

“Duh, I know everything about all my friends. I wouldn’t be a very good party planner if I didn’t.”

The rest of the girls looked between each other, and their faces said what they were all thinking. What else does she know?

“I don’t mean to sound accusatory,” Fluttershy said, “but the profile used Sunset’s colors, and ‘Anon-a-Miss’ is the kind of name you would use.”

“Yeah, it was designed to obviously look like it’s me. Someone’s trying to frame me. I’m frankly insulted by how badly they bastardized my MO.”

“That still doesn’t answer how they learned about the name.”, RD pointed out.

“Tha only people that should know it are us six and ma immediate family.”, AJ said.

“Maybe Granny let it slip.”, Rarity suggested. “Her memory is going. So, she might’ve told it to the wrong person, and they spread it.”

“Somebody that hates me enough to want to destroy my relationships.”, Sunset added. “Which could be just about anyone.”

“We can narrow it down to just the female students. Boys don’t do psychological manipulation and attacks.”

“Good point”

“Okay, Ah’ll talk ta Granny.”, AJ said.

“After school, there’s less than ten minutes before class.”, Fluttershy added.

“Alright, after school.”

CHS halls

Date: same day, time: 8:25 pm

*Lily’s perspective*

If my calculations are correct, the Rainbooms’ friendship should be imploding. Lily watched the library doors from behind a far corner. The bell was soon to sound, so the girls had to come out soon.

“Um, Lily Valley.”

“Ahh, Applebloom.” Lily turned around to not only see Bloom but also her two other friends. “I see you’ve brought your friends. Have they come to see our way?”

“Um, yeah, they want their sisters back too.”

“Very good. Now, watch. They should all hate Sunset by the time they leave the library.”

Lily turned back to the doors just in time to see the Rainbooms come out, but they were still together. They didn’t even look angry at each other. Applejack was definitely angry, but it looked to be at basically everyone besides her friends, particularly Sunset. As a matter of fact, she looked ready to pummel a kid that hollered something at her, probably calling her by her nickname. It was Sunset that had to step in between them, and looked to be intimidating the kid. They were too far away to be heard, but the kid looked uncomfortable in an ‘embarrassed’ way then quickly left. Drat

“It would appear it wasn’t enough.”

“You said this would get them to hate Sunset and we’d have our sisters back.”, Bloom complained.

“It would seem your sisters need more proof. What else are your sisters’ embarrassed about?”

“Ha, shows what you know. Rainbow Dash is too awesome to have anything to be embarrassed about.”, Scootaloo boasted.

“Oh, but quite the contrary, Rainbow’s pride gives her plenty to be embarrassed by.”

Scootaloo huffed and crossed her arms.

“Meet me after school. I’ll give you some spy equipment.”

“Spy equipment, like cameras?”, Sweetie Belle asked.

“Mini cameras, hidden microphones, that sorta stuff.”

“Why do you have those?”

“I’ve been preparing for this for months. I’ve gathered everything I could possibly need to take down Sunset. Place the cameras and microphones in your sisters’ rooms, and I’ll take it from there.”

The bell rang, and the girls ran off towards the junior high. Lily began quickly walking to her class, but her mind was solely focused on the plan. They must’ve realized it was a frame job. That’s the only explanation. That means they’ll be looking at the people around them. I’ll need to make sure they don’t catch onto the girls, which will happen faster if Anon-a-Miss only posts about them. I know what I need to do.

CHS stacks

Date: Dec 18th, time: 3:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

So, Granny Smith hasn’t told anyone about AJ’s nickname. None of us did. That means only Big Mac and Bloom could’ve let it slip, and Big Mac barely speaks. Would Bloom really betray her sister like that?

The Rainbooms sat at the tables in their little hideaway, trying to figure out who Anon-a-Miss was. Rarity was cyber sleuthing, Sunset was working on a list of suspects, and the rest of the girls were brainstorming and discussing theories on who it could be.

“Look at what you-know-who posted last night. It explains that lunch fiasco.”, Rarity said. She turned her laptop around so the rest of them could see.

“Wow, Forest Thunder’s been cheating on Maple with Molly since sixth grade?”, Fluttershy asked.

“Oh yeah, he has.”, Sunset said. The rest of the girls turned to look at Sunset with a mixture of suspicion and confusion. “Hey, I used to collect dirt on people like it was gold. How do you think I got him to shut up yesterday?”

“I mean, yeah, but you see how bad this makes you look.”, RD said.

“That’s exactly what Anon-a-Miss wants. Whoever she is, she’s trying to frame me into looking like I relapsed. We have to protect my good name… well, we gotta protect my name.”

“Let’s just keep searching.”, Rarity said. “You saw the fight Maple and Molly got into. This might actually pose a real problem if it’s not nipped in the bud.”

“Okay, then how could she have learned of this?”, AJ asked.

“It’s actually pretty easy when you’re minding other people’s business.”, Sunset said. “A master of stealth Forest Thunder is not. You can learn a lot from just staying quiet and listening.”

“Alright, that’s one mystery solved.”

Rarity went back to her laptop, and Sunset retreated back into her mind as the rest of the girls continued talking. Hopefully, they could figure it out before Christmas.

Lily & Daisy’s bedroom

Date: same day, time: 9:00 pm

*Lily’s perspective*

Lily looked over the video and listened to the recording of the girls’ sleepover for what would be the best way to embarrass any of them. She had her earbuds in so Daisy wouldn’t hear, and considering it looked like she would be doing it for a while, that was important. The girls weren’t doing anything interesting. It was just normal sleepover stuff, until Pinkie attempted a stage dive. Well, that was a spectacular crash.

“Hey, Rarity, what’s all this? Ah’ve never ya wear any a’ these.”, AJ commented.

“And you never shall. Those are… not my best works.”

“I’ll say.”, RD said, holding up a blue and white polka dot dress with fringe on the shoulders and skirt. It could best be described as the unholy love child of ‘cowboy’ and ‘60s suburban mom’.

“Which is why they’re in my closet of shame.”

“I personally think they look kinda fun.”, Fluttershy said.

“Ooh, I know. We should play dress-up.”, Pinkie cheered.

And that was exactly what they did. In theory, this would be perfect ammo, if only she could figure out how to make Sunset look responsible. That’s when Sunset started taking pictures. Hello. Lily paused the video and looked over the scene, switching between the cameras. She smiled as she realized that Sunset was standing right next to one of the cameras but not in sight of it. I just found my ammo.

CHS halls

Date: Dec 19th, time: 12:00 pm

*Rarity’s perspective*

The bell rang, and students poured out of their classrooms, half of which were heading to the cafeteria, including the Rainbooms. Rarity exited her classroom and hurried to meet her friends and get some food. As she walked through the halls, some students she passed started snickering. Rarity looked herself over in case she was having a wardrobe malfunction, but there was nothing. That’s weird.

Rarity’s path was blocked by Photo Finish running up to her. “Rarity, you need to look at zis.” Photo handed Rarity her phone, and her heart nearly stopped when she saw it.

There was the Anon-a-Miss page with pictures of her and her friends in her awful outfits along with the caption “What was Rarity on when she made these?”. How? This isn’t… She then remembered that Sunset was taking pictures the night before, including these pictures. She wouldn’t… yet. “Thank you for showing me this.”

Rarity handed the phone back and ran to the cafeteria. She was the first to arrive at the doors so pulled out her phone and opened Anon-a-Miss’ page. The rest of the girls, minus Sunset, started showing up, and Rarity showed them the page. They all had similar looks on their faces as Rarity herself.

“Let me guess, Anon-a-Miss. What’d she post this time?”, Sunset asked as she approached. The rest of them turned to face her, causing Sunset to stop in her tracks. “What’s wrong?”

“Sunset,” Rarity asked, “did you lose your phone?”

“Um, no. Why?”

Rarity answered by showing Sunset her phone screen.

Sunset’s eyes went wide as she processed what she was seeing. She reached for her own phone and looked between it and Rarity’s like she was trying to process something that should be impossible. “That’s not… I didn’t…”

“Sunset, you do realize how this looks?”

“I do, but I-I didn’t post those.”

“Then how did this happen?”

“I don’t know.”

Rarity looked Sunset over with both her eyes and her sixth sense. They both told her that Sunset wasn’t lying and was genuinely confused and even scared. Rarity looked at AJ, silently asking her if Sunset’s lying. AJ shook her head. Rarity wanted to believe Sunset, but the evidence was too strong. The idea that she might somehow be able to trick their sixth senses popped into her head. She is far more skilled with her abilities than any of them, and she has stated she can manipulate her aura, though that was just to hide herself, and she is a good actress. Did she really do this?

“We trusted you.”, Rainbow said.

The fear signals Sunset gave off increased and were now accompanied by pain. Her eyes went wide as she silently pleaded with them. It all twisted Rarity’s heart. She wanted to hug her, but that doubt stopped her. It was a painful battle between her heart and her head.

Rainbow grabbed Rarity’s arm, and the five of them entered the cafeteria. Rarity looked back to Sunset as the doors closed behind them, and the look on her face could best be described as that of a kicked puppy.

Outside the cafeteria

Date: same day, time: 12:05 pm

*Lily’s perspective*

Lily had followed Rarity to the cafeteria, watched the five of them disown Sunset, and was now watching her hated enemy silently breaking down. Sunset stood there for several moments before running off to somewhere that wasn’t the cafeteria.

Lily’s joy was cut short by another pounding, dizzying migraine. She barely managed to get to a water fountain and get her meds. It was so hard to stay up right.

“Hey, you okay?”, a voice she recognized as Flash’s asked.

“I’m fine.”, she snarled.

“No, you’re not. Let me help you sit down.”

She really wasn’t in a position to argue, and he helped her not collapse to the floor.

“Do you need anything?”

“No, go away.”

“Alright” Flash continued to the cafeteria, leaving Lily alone.

She waited for her meds to kick in before getting up. With the pain at a manageable level, she was able to think again as she headed into the cafeteria herself. The CMC will be happy to learn that the plan worked. Hm, but if I stop now, they might grow suspicious, and I want to truly destroy Sunset’s reputation. Well, I still have so much dirt on everyone. There’s no reason for me to stop.

CHS halls

Date: same day, time: 12:05 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

They-they abandoned me, disowned me. I don’t have a pack anymore. “We trusted you.” Sunset ran through the halls at speeds the track team would envy, but she did not run for sport or even fun. No, there was something raging inside her that she was struggling to contain. She had to get away from the humans before she lost control.

She ran outside and to the Everfree. Simply getting out into the forest calmed the maelstrom somewhat, but it wasn’t enough. She ran until she could no longer see the school through the trees and finally let go. With nothing holding it back, her magic surged through her body, and she fell to her hands and knees in the snow. Claws erupted from her hands and feet to rip apart anything and everything, her teeth elongated and sharpened into the weapons of an apex predator, her eyes shifted into slitted, red glowing harbingers of death, and her body continued to change. Her ears grew long and pointed but otherwise stayed in place, and the fine hairs that covered her human body thickened and grew until they covered her in a thick blanket like her old pony fur but colored the crimson red and soft gold of her hair.

She did not have the luxury of examining her new form as the inner wolf she now was expressing was still raging. Sunset let out a deep, pain-filled roar into the forest, causing birds to scatter from the trees and all else to go quiet, but the rage and pain in her heart was not sated. She had to take her anger out on something, and the unfortunate foliage was the closest thing. Her claws ripped through the bark of the trees, revealing the creamy sapwood underneath. Smaller plants were completely destroyed, reduced to sticks and goop. All while Sunset grunted and roared and ran around in the snow.

A hand was placed on her back, and Sunset spun around to swipe and roar at whoever dared touch her. Her clawed swipe stopped in mid air and her roar caught in her throat when she saw it was Meg, and she was left breathing heavily and unmoving.

Meg was startled by the sight of her monstrous form but was unperturbed. Meg had not grown as much as Sunset over the last few years and was left nearly half a foot shorter than the werewolf. Despite the fact that any sane person would be running the other way, Meg stood strong and cupped Sunset’s face in her hands. She started mouthing something, and it took Sunset a couple repeats to understand what. “You’re okay.” Meg started rubbing Sunset’s furry cheek, and Sunset leaned into the petting, lowering her swiping hand to her side as she let out a pitiful whine.

Sunset lowered herself to the ground, and Meg followed and hugged her. Sunset grabbed onto her like a life preserver. To the wolf, she was just that. She wasn’t sad enough to cry but still felt like crap. Meg kept hugging Sunset until the latter pulled away some minutes later. She still didn’t feel good but no longer felt like ripping everything in sight to shreds.

Meg pulled her arms back and started signing. “Cute fluffy”

Sunset smiled at her.

“What are you?”

Sunset started to sign then realized she wasn’t sure what the correct sign was. Ahh, fuck it. “I Irish breed man wolf.”

Meg’s eyes went wide, and then she got really excited.

“No tell anyone. My mom no want people know. Mom worry people get scared and hurt us.”

Meg nodded and put her finger to her mouth in the ‘shush’ gesture.

“Thank you”

Sunset looked herself over more thoroughly. Comparing her hair to her fur, she realized what she thought was gold was actually amber, like her old fur. She pulled out her phone to look at her face. The majority of her fur was crimson, but there were also gold and amber parts that replaced the typically lighter brown and cream colors seen on wolves. Her hands were also black, and likely so were her feet, like a fox. She put her phone away and felt her own fur. It was remarkably similar to her pony fur with a water-resistant outer coat and a soft, warm undercoat.

“You hungry?”, Meg asked.

Sunset snapped back to attention and remembered she hadn’t eaten, but her appetite was more distant in her mind. The wolf didn’t want food. It wanted its pack. The wolf urged her to howl for her pack, but she pushed it down. It would do nothing. What she needed was fuel to think. She performed the Kuji-in and managed to calm down enough to retake her human form, but she still felt… off. The two of them got up and headed back to the school. Whatever it takes, I’m going to find Anon-a-Miss and make her pay for what she did.

CHS band room

Date: same day, time: 3:00 pm

*Meg’s perspective*

To say lunch had been rushed would not be incorrect. They had gotten there in time to get food, but they basically had to shovel the food into their mouths before heading off to class. Sunset, despite no longer rampaging, still acted off, not her normal, confident self. She had relayed the story, describing the girls as her “pack”. The photos are pretty damning evidence, but there was still reasonable doubt in her mind. Sunset may be the source of the photos, but there’s no evidence that she’s the one that posted them, and there are ways a third party could’ve gotten their hands on those photos, and Sunset did give a good defence. The investigation is not over. That’s why she now stood in front of the remaining Rainbooms, all of whom looked just as miserable as Sunset.

“Do you really believe Sunset is guilty?”, Meg signed.

Rarity, being the most experienced signer of the five, stepped forward to represent them. “No, but evidence is too strong.” Rarity started to explain the photos, but Meg cut her off.

“Sunset told me everything, but you all know better. It is too obviously Sunset. I saw what Sunset used to do. If Sunset want cause chaos, Sunset would have made page you themed.”

Rarity talked to the rest of the girls then turned back to Meg. “We do not want believe Sunset is guilty, but we can not deny evidence. And Sunset might have made page Sunset themed to frame someone else for framing Sunset.”

“Does that make sense with what was posted?”

Rarity paused, talked with the rest of the girls, then turned back to Meg and shook her head. “We do not know what to believe. We would gladly take Sunset back if there was any tangible proof of innocence.”

Meg nodded, turned on her heels, and power walked out of there. She couldn’t stand the idea of wrongful prosecution, especially against her friends. This “Anon-a-Miss” was going down.

Katon family living room

Date: same day, time: 5:30 pm

*Brigid’s perspective*

Brigid sat across from Sunset and Meg, the former of whom was covered in fur. Her fur was mostly wolf-like, but there were also more foxlike traits such as black “paws”. Her ears, still located on the side of her head, were also the longer and pointier ears of a fox. She also had full on paw pads. It was an odd sight to see, but it resonated with something deep within her own being that brought her comfort and pride. However, the news of what happened earlier very much did not bring her comfort.

“At least ya didn’t hurt anyone.”, Brigid said while also translating it into ASL so Meg wasn’t left out.

“I came uncomfortably close to hurting somebody. If I hadn’t gotten away in time, I think I might’ve lashed out at the other students. I also nearly struck Meg and only stopped because it was her.”, Sunset said and signed. Her voice had become more growly, like sound recordings of a canid species mimicking human words were overlaid over her own voice. It reminded Brigid of her own grandmother, mother, and herself.

“I am flattered.”, Meg signed.

Emi climbed up Sunset and started messing with her cheek tufts. “I can’t wait until I can do this.”

“It is certainly useful in the cold.”, Sunset said.

“As for yer pack, it’s clear dat da loss a’ ‘em has affected ya.”

“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s like there’s something physically wrong with me. Maybe there is something physically wrong. It’s hard to put into words.”

“Ya don’t have ta. We should be figurin’ out how ta get ‘em back.”

“Rainbooms want her back too. Any evidence to her innocence will get Rainbooms back.”, Meg signed.

“So, I just need to prove those pictures weren’t posted by me, simple.”, Sunset said sarcastically.

“Or prove that you didn’t take those pictures in the first place. Just because the pictures are similar, doesn’t mean they are the same.”, Minerva said. She, Anzhong, and Anura were watching from the side but mostly left this werewolf issue to the werewolves. It’s still so weird ta thinka’ maself like dat.

“There weren’t any other people there. This was in Rarity’s bedroom. Ugh, whatever’s going on with me is making it hard to think critically.”, Sunset said as she rubbed her face. “I’m going to lie down for a while.” Sunset got up, placing Emi on the couch, and headed to her room.

“I’m going to make dinner.” Anzhong walked off to the kitchen.

Brigid gave Minerva a look, and she took the girls away. The big bad werewolf turned her attention to the remaining girl. Meg grew nervous. It probably just hit her that she was sitting across from a mythical monster. “You can not tell anyone about us.”, Brigid signed.

“I know. I not tell anyone.”

Brigid nodded. “Are you staying for dinner?”

“No, Mom is picking me up soon.”

There was a knock at the door, and Brigid let Meg know that her mother was there. Meg waved, then headed to the door.

So, losin’ a pack causes werewolves physical and psychological issues beyond emotional distress. A lot a’ thin’s make a lot more sense now.

Sunset’s room

Date: same day, time: 6:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

They never loved you. They’ve just been looking for an excuse to get rid of you.

Sunset clamped her pillow over her ears to block out the demon, but obviously, it didn’t work. No, that’s not true. I can’t let Anon-a-Miss win. I won’t let her win. She repeated that to herself as much as she could, but that day’s events gave her demon too much power. Why won’t you shut up?

“Sunset”, Brigid called out.

“Up here.”, Sunset said without any energy.

Brigid’s heavy footsteps stomped up the stairs and over to Sunset’s bed. “Hey, dinne’ will be ready soon.”

Sunset wasn’t sure if she was hungry enough to eat or not. Her emotions made her not want to eat, but her body made its needs well known. “Okay”

Brigid sat down on Sunset’s bed and pulled the young taxonomical nightmare into her arms. Being in her arms soothed Sunset’s aching significantly, but it didn’t stop it. Brigid began stroking her cheek, brushing out the little tuft of fur that’d been messed up from Sunset lying on it.

“Dose girls still love ya. Someone has taken advantage a’ dat love ta hurt ya in ways dey could never do alone.”

The demon couldn’t argue with that. She didn’t kick her out as soon as she had her bone marrow, as it was so tried to convince her she would. Although she couldn’t use her powers, Brigid still smelled like a wolf, and her wolf wouldn’t stand for their mother being slandered like that or the demon’s bull. Sunset buried her head in her mother’s warm body as the two forces duked it out inside her mind. How am I ever supposed to make peace with that thing? It’s pure evil. It’s everything wrong and bad about me.

Sunset opened her eyes and looked down at her shirt. It had her cutie mark printed onto it. For the longest time, she just thought it was a strangely stylized setting sun, but a few months into her time on Earth, she realized that the symbol in the center is actually a taijitu, a symbol unique to Earth. She doesn’t much like the word ‘destiny’ anymore, but that’s the best word she had. Though not in the divine sense, her destiny has always been intertwined with this planet. Maybe it’s not a sun at all.

Sunset studied her symbol again. Even though it looked like the taijitu, it was missing the dots that were half the point of it. But then there were the flames. The red and gold flames ran along the tomoe of opposite colors. Maybe the flames are stand-ins for the dots. Maybe it’s a taijitu stylized into a setting sun. Maybe it is my destiny to find balance between the light and darkness in my heart. But I can’t do it alone. I need my girls.

Rainbow’s bedroom

Date: Dec 20th, time: 3:00 pm

*Rainbow’s perspective*

“Ugh, I’m going to be the laughing stock on Monday.” Rainbow sat on her bed with Anon-a-Miss’ page open on her laptop. Her current agenda was figuring out Anon-a-Miss’ agenda. If it was Sunset, she wanted to know what happened to make her relapse and why she was spilling all her secrets. If it wasn’t Sunset, she wanted to find proof that was the case.

As it currently stood, she mentally removed Sunset from the whole equation. She was trying to figure out why this person was doing all this and who they were, not letting her mindset cloud her judgment. It was something she learned when her mother was complaining about arson investigators. They look for signs of arson, not if it was arson. That mindset clouds their judgment, leading to false arrests when there was no crime.

She now looked at what was posted earlier that day. It was a picture of her C- math quiz from Friday, and that bothered her. Not only was one of her failings put on public display, Anon-a-Miss would’ve had to break into her locker to get the photo. She didn’t know if Sunset knew how to break into lockers or not, but it wouldn’t surprise her if she did. However, there was also the possibility that Anon-a-Miss learned or knew her code, and there was only one other person that knew it.

*Knock knock knock* “Hey, Rainbow, Scootaloo is here.”, Mom said.

Scootaloo ran in past Mom and over to Rainbow’s bed. “Hey, Rainbow, wanna go to the skate park?”

Rainbow looked Scootaloo over with emotionless eyes. Her powers were similar to Sunset’s, just more geared towards the dead. In theory, she should be able to use them more like Sunset. She hoped she might be able to gain some insight from Scootaloo, if she had something to do with Anon-a-Miss.

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Sorry, I’m busy.”

“What? Come on, we always go there during the weekend.”

“I said I’m busy.”, Rainbow said in a sterner tone. She might’ve let some of her agitation over the whole situation and suspicion slip through.

“Oh, okay.”, Scoots said sadly and slunk out of RD’s room.

Mom watched her leave then turned her attention back to Rainbow. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not, but I can’t really talk about it. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh, try me.”

“Do you have wings?”

Mom looked confused then understood, and her eyes became downcast. “Alright, I’ll leave you to deal with it.” Mom closed the door behind her as she left.

And there’s the downside to magic. We can’t fully relate to the rest of humanity anymore. Rainbow turned her attention back down to her laptop. If Scootaloo is involved in this, then the rest of the crusaders must also be involved. So, what motivation would the girls have to do this?

Shellie River Park

Date: Dec 21st, time: 2:00 pm

*Bloom’s perspective*

The CMC sat at a picnic table in the park close to Sweetie Belle’s house. It was the only place they felt they could talk openly without somebody they knew overhearing them. The table they sat at was far away from basically anything else, and the snow would make sure their voices didn’t travel.

None of them felt good. They betrayed their sister’s trust, and it didn’t even get them what they wanted. All three of their sisters still weren’t spending time with them. As a matter of fact, they were spending even less time with them. They normally were able to play with their sisters during the weekend, but they all barely left the rooms since they came back from school on Friday.

“We’ve made a huge mistake.”, Sweetie Belle said. “And I still feel weird about the cameras.”

“Ah wish Ah’d never agreed ta help Lily.”, Bloom said.

“I wish you hadn’t talked me into it. Rainbow Dash is going to hate me.”, Scootaloo said. “She’s never going to trust me with anything personal ever again.”

“All ya did was tell Lily she’s embarrassed about her math skills.”

“She trusted me because she thought I was loyal enough to keep her secret. This is your fault, y’know!”

“Hey, hey, we can’t start turning on each other now.”, Sweetie Belle said. “We need to work together to fix this, and you agreed to your part, Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo crossed her arms and huffed.

“Applejack says honesty is tha best policy. Maybe, if we come clean, they’ll be more forgiving.”, Bloom said.

“Sigh, you’re probably right.”

“Tomorrow at school, Ah’ll tell Sunset what we did.”

CHS bathroom

Date: Dec 22nd, time: 3:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

There is much to learn about being a faoladh, but there aren’t exactly a lot of reputable sources to learn from, so Sunset and her family have to learn by experiencing things themselves, and over the past weekend, Sunset learned just how much being exiled from the pack hurts. It’s not even just emotional pain. There’s something going on inside her body, with her magic, that was difficult to describe. The best she could do was say that her inner wolf was throwing a tantrum, though not as violent as the one on Friday. She felt overly warm and was far more irritable than normal and had been in a low mood since that day.

She splashed water on her face to try and calm herself. A night and two days of trying to figure out who Anon-a-Miss really is on top of getting kicked out of her pack left her mentally drained and slow to recover. Meg rubbed and gave her shoulder a gentle pat. Her presence settled the beast somewhat and made it possible for Sunset to think.

Anon-a-Miss has continued to post over the weekend, including Rainbow’s C- in math and more of the other students’ secrets, secrets that Sunset knew. Unfortunately, knowledge of the Rainbooms little conversation about Sunset being the anonymous poster had gotten around, and kids tend to remember who knows their most embarrassing secrets. At least, each time she posted, the suspect pool got narrowed down. There was no way that someone that made that page was conniving enough to post about themselves to throw off suspicion, but they also couldn’t be a complete idiot. Her current list was: Sweetie Drops, Bloom, Trixi, Octavia Melody, and Lily Valley.

Meg tapped Sunset on the shoulder and shoved her phone into her face with Instapage. Okay, scratch Octavia. Sunset nodded, and Meg put her phone away. She was at the bottom of my suspect list anyway.

The two of them left the bathroom, and Sunset was back to being on the receiving end of some pretty nasty looks. This she could deal with, but Meg was also receiving the stink-eye. She didn’t deserve that, so Sunset put herself between her and anyone that so much looked at her with unkindness. Her deafness was a boon in this scenario, considering the pissed off mumblings of the other students, but Sunset heard them all.

As they walked through the halls and the crowd thinned out, Sunset spotted Trixi at the snack vending machine. She might be Anon-a-Miss. The wolf got riled up, and Sunset’s blood started to boil. She clenched her fits only for her claws to pop out and jab her palms. Blood dripped down her fingers and onto the floor, but she didn’t care. Sunset marched over to her and forcefully turned her towards her. Trixi looked like she was about to say something but shut her mouth when she saw Sunset’s glowing eyes and fang-filled snarl.

“Did you do this? Are you Anon-a-Miss?”

Trixi recomposed herself, presenting a confident demeanor even though Sunset could still sense that she’s scared. “I’m not Anon-a-Miss, but I am glad that she knocked you six down a notch. You deserve it for everything you’ve done, and I’m including your band stealing the semi-finals win from mine. I hope your entire friend group dissolves by the time this is over.”

Sunset lost what little control she still had and pushed Trixi to the ground, hard. She raised her claw to slash at her, but a weight on her arm stopped her. She turned to look, giving Trixi a chance to scramble away, and Meg was holding her arm back, well, at least trying to. In reality, the girl was hanging off her arm, and her feet were several inches off the ground. Meg was barely 120 pounds. Sunset was able to hold her up with ease. The comedy of the situation distracted Sunset from her rage and made her chuckle. She went back to human and lowered Meg back down.

“Okay?”, Meg asked.

“Yes, okay.” Ugh, the only other person that believes I’m not Anon-a-Miss hates us, great.

Sunset led Meg to the library and up to the stacks. She needed to get away from other people. They sat at the tables, and Sunset pulled out her journal. Meg was a tremendous help, but she needed more and someone that could understand her other side. “Hey, Twilight, there is something terrible going on here.” Sunset told Twilight everything, including her losing control over her wolf.

“That’s horrible. I wish I could offer you help, but I don’t know enough about your world, let alone your technology.”

The glow from the book caught Meg’s attention, and she looked like a monkey that was just shown a magic trick when the words started appearing. “Is that magic?”

“Yes, I talk with Magic Alien.”

Meg got really excited and started bouncing in her seat. “Tell Magic Alien friend I say hi.”

Sunset nodded. “I know. I’m more asking for support than advice. And Meg, the friend that’s helping me, says hi.”

“Let her know I say hi too.”

Sunset relayed the message to Meg.

“As far as support goes,” Twilight continued, “stay strong, be yourself, and be with your family.”

“The girls are my family. They’re my pack.”

“Then keep fighting for them. I know you’ll prove your innocence. You’re too stubborn to let anything else happen.”

“Thank you.” Sunset closed up the journal and let out a tired sigh. Keep fighting. That’s what you do. Sunset put her journal away and pulled out her laptop, which had Anon-a-Miss’ page open on it. The pictures were still up there, but no matter how much she stared at them, she couldn’t figure out how they had been taken off her phone. They weren’t saved to her cloud account, so they would’ve needed to come off her phone, but that’s impossible.

Meg tapped Sunset on the shoulder and pointed at one of the pictures.

Sunset looked at the picture but wasn’t sure what Meg was trying to say. “What?”

Meg grabbed Sunset’s phone from her pocket, got Sunset to unlock it for her, then opened up the sleepover pictures, and held Sunset’s phone up next to her computer screen.

“I still not get it.”

Meg pointed between the pictures, specifically the space between the foot of Rarity’s bed and the wall.

“There’s a difference.”, Sunset said aloud.

Meg then pointed at a spot on the right edge. Sunset looked closer at that spot and saw a little red dot, only a few pixels large. Meg grabbed some of Sunset’s red hair and brought up to that red dot. They were the same color.

“If my hair is there in the picture, that means the camera that took these pictures wasn’t mine. Aunt Minerva was right. Given the angles, the camera would’ve been behind my left side, but I was standing up against Rarity’s dresser, and the only thing to the left of me were… shelves.” Oh, shit. A cold chill ran down Sunset’s spine as she realized what happened. She quickly began packing up her things, startling Meg. Meg shook her arm to get her attention. “Thank you, need go.”, Sunset signed before running out of the library, nearly bumping into Bloom as she turned to go down the hall.

Sunset quickly became thankful that werewolves are the super hybrid of Earth’s two apex pursuit predators as she ran out of the school and all the way to Rarity’s house. Rarity didn’t live as far away as AJ or RD, but it did take her nearly an hour to get there. Canterville’s crappy pedestrian infrastructure didn’t help.

Sunset rang the doorbell, and Mrs. Alba opened the door. “Hi, I need to see Rarity.” Sunset slipped past Mrs. Alba and hurried up the stairs and into Rarity’s room. Rarity nearly jumped out of her bed when Sunset ran in, but she didn’t care and started searching for the camera.

“Sunset, what are you doing?!”

“Proving I’m not Anon-a-Miss!” The pictures looked to have been taken at about the same height, so since I was holding my phone at my eye level… Sunset searched the shelf for any sign of a camera. A slight indent in a cardboard tissue box caught her attention. The box was a glossy black, not a bad place to hide a camera. Sunset looked into the indent and was greeted by the sight of glass. She popped out her claws and ripped the box open, revealing the camera fully. She grabbed it and turned around to show it to Rarity, who was now standing behind her.

“Oh, my god.”

“I’m not Anon-a-Miss.”

Rarity wordlessly nodded with a growing look of horror on her face. “Help me search for more.”

Rarity’s house

Date: same day, time: 4:30 pm

*Rainbow’s perspective*

Applejack, Applebloom, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, and Rainbow Dash all stepped out of their transportations and walked up to Rarity’s front door. The message she sent didn’t have much information in it other than telling them all to get to her house yesterday. They all understood the urgency and hurried to get there, and the pipsqueaks tagged along. AJ rang the doorbell, and Mrs. Alba let them in soon after. They all headed upstairs, and Applebloom and Scootaloo headed to Sweetie Belle’s room while the rest of them went into Rarity’s room. Needless to say, the Rainbooms were quite surprised to see Sunset in there.

A flurry of emotions swelled in Rainbow’s heart, some anger but mostly sadness and hurt. She’d grown to truly care about Sunset, maybe even love her.

“What are ya doin’ here, Sunset?”, AJ asked in a flat tone. Rainbow was no empath, obviously, but it was clear to anyone with working eyes that her tone was flat because she didn’t know what emotion to put into her words, none of them did.

Sunset answered by pointing to a small collection of small, black things on Rarity’s bed. “I’m not Anon-a-Miss, and here’s your proof.”

“What are those?”, Fluttershy asked.

“Hidden cameras,” Rarity answered, “somebody recorded our entire sleepover here and who knows what else.”

“Those weren’t photos. They were still frames from a video with audio.”, Sunset added.

“Hold on, so, Anon-a-Miss bugged Rarity’s room and watched us for hours.”, RD said. She couldn’t put what she was feeling into words and could only describe it as ‘giyack’. How would someone even get in here to plant those?

“Hurray for Sunset not being Anon-a-Miss! But giyack for us being creeped on.”, Pinkie cheered.

“Ah’m sorry we accused ya of being Anon-a-Miss. Ah hope ya can forgive us.”, AJ said. Pinkie and Fluttershy echoed similar sentiments.

Rarity moved over to stand with the rest of them. “I’m sorry too. As the one to first accuse you, I take most of the blame.”

Rainbow felt a wave of relief that Sunset hadn’t betrayed them and then guilt for abandoning her. “Yeah, some element of loyalty I am. Next time, I’m trusting my instincts more.”

Sunset’s expression went from stoic to unbelievably happy. “I’m just happy to have you all back. You’re my pack, my family.” Sunset did her best to wrap them all up into a hug, and the rest of them quickly helped her with it.

Something pulsed in Rainbow’s chest. She used the meditation techniques she learned to focus in on it. It was a ball of warm energy, similar to her magic but distinctly not. Five strings emitted from the ball. She focused on one of the strings, the strongest one. It felt like Fluttershy, the same feeling she felt when standing next to her. She checked the rest of the strings, and they felt like the rest of the girls. They seemed to lead to each of them, like they were all connected by them. Sunset’s string was also slightly different from the rest. Rainbow didn’t know why or how, but it was different, more powerful in a way but of equal strength to the strings that weren’t Fluttershy’s.

“What’s that?”, Rarity asked.

The girls all pulled apart, and Rainbow saw what Rarity was most likely asking about. Sunset was covered in red fur. “Well, I seem to be able to access more of my wolfiness as time goes on.”

“Fluffy mode”, Pinkie said with quiet excitement.

“Aw, you look adorable.”, Fluttershy said. “Can I pet you?”

“Maybe later.” Sunset shook her head, and the fur went away. “Um, did any of you feel anything weird when…”

“A ball of energy appearing in our chests when we were hugging,” RD said, “yeah.”

“What was that?”, Pinkie asked.

“Well, it feels like werewolf magic.”, Sunset said. She seemed a bit wary or unsure about something.

“Wait, is this a pack bond thing?”, Rarity asked.

“You watch The Teenage Life of Werewolves?”

“It’s a good show.”, Rarity defended.

“Okay, well, yeah, that’s my theory.”

“Honestly, with how weird our lives have gotten recently, this barely trips the bizarro meter.”, AJ said. “We can deal with it later. Right now, we need ta find out who Anon-a-Miss really is.”

“We might be able ta help with that.”

The reunited Rainbooms turned to see the CMC standing in the doorway, looking rather guilty.

“You three are Anon-a-Miss, aren’t you.”, RD said.

“Are you seriously accusing our sisters of doing all this?”, Rarity asked angrily.

“I’ve had them on my radar since our talk with Granny Smith, and Scootaloo was the only one that knew just how much my lack of math skills bothered me and my locker combo. And who else could’ve planted those cameras without setting off your alarm bells or your house’s actual alarms?”

Rarity thought about it for a moment then nodded. “Sigh, you’re right. Ugh, but I wish you weren’t.”

“We aren’t actually Anon-a-Miss. We just worked for her.”, Sweetie Belle said.

“Worked for”. All the girls perked up at this. They knew the implications.

“Then who is she?”, Sunset said.

“Lily Valley”

“Lily Valley? Does she really hate you enough to do all this?”, Fluttershy asked Sunset.

“Yeah, she does, but I can’t figure out why. I didn’t start doing crap to her or her sister until she started doing crap to me. Either way, I’ll take care of her and the footage, but it’ll have to be after Christmas. I don’t think she’ll actually do anything with it that would get the cops involved.”

“I say we should confront her at school, in front of everyone.”, Rarity said.

Sunset nodded her approval.

“As for you three.”

“We know, and we are truly sorry.”, Bloom started. “I was jealous Applejack was spending so much time with you instead of me and our family. I wanted to make you look bad so she would spend more time with me, like before she got her magic.” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gave similar apologies.

Rainbow looked at AJ and Rarity. They were all still angry but also understood. They all looked to Sunset.

“I’m going to extend the same forgiveness I was given to you.”, she said. “I understand where you’re coming from. I have an older sister too, my biological sister. When I was about your age, we weren’t able to spend as much time together as we used to, and I felt lonely too.” Sunset looked to the three older sisters.

The three of them looked between each other and silently came to a conclusion. “You broke our trust.”, Rarity said. “We’ll try to spend more time with you, but our thrust is something you’ll need to earn back.”

“And Sunset’s our family too, and we are going to spend time with her.”, RD added.

“Ya’ll also have ta tell tha principals of both school about your involvement with Anon-a-Miss.”

“We understand.”, the three girls said.

“Are there any other hidden cameras?”, Pinkie asked seriously.

“No, I was the only one that set them up.”, Sweetie Belle said.

“Good, now, you three, out. We have to discuss damage control.”, Rarity said. She ushered them out and closed the door behind them. “Alright, we won’t be able to confront Lily for two weeks, but I feel like we should do something to put the kibosh on it.”

“Well, now that we know who it is, we don’t need the page any more. We can report it and, hopefully, get it taken down.”, Sunset said.

The girls all nodded and took out their phones.

CHS cafeteria

Date: Jan 5th, 2014, time: 12:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

The Rainbooms entered the cafeteria but didn’t get into line for food. Lily was just getting out of line with her sister and heading over to the tables. The Rainbooms followed them and surrounded the sisters once they sat down.

“Y’know, putting, or rather, having someone put hidden cameras in someone else’s room is pretty illegal.”, Sunset said.

Daisy looked confused, and Lily looked pissed.

“What’s going to happen now is you’re going to hand over your computer, phone, and whatever else you might have that can hold a video file, and then you’re going to confess to what you’ve done to Principal Celestia and the whole school.”

“Piss off, I’m not giving you anything, and I didn’t do anything.”

“Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo already confessed and told us about what ya’ve done.”, AJ said.

“Lily, what did you do?”, Daisy asked.

“Piss off! All of you!” Lily got up and tried to storm out of there, but AJ and Rainbow stopped her.

“We know you’re Anon-a-Miss, and we’re not going to let you keep those recordings.”, Rarity said.

“What recordings?”, Daisy asked, alarmed.

“Lily planted hidden cameras in Rarity’s room.”, Fluttershy said.

“Lily! Ugh, her computer’s at home. I’ll get it to you tonight.”

“How dare you!”, Lily shouted at Daisy.

“How dare you! Why would you do that?! Why would you reveal everyone’s secrets, and why would you make it look like it was Sunset?!”

Lily said nothing and, much to Sunset’s surprise, actually felt some shame. She pushed past RD and AJ and ran out of the cafeteria.

Sunset looked around the cafeteria, and a sufficient number of students were watching the scene. She signaled for the girls to move on, and they left Daisy to sort out her end of the mess.

The news spread around the school as the day went on. Sunset, and by extension Meg, received fewer and fewer nasty looks as a result. Once school let out for the day, the girls, Meg included, headed to Celestia’s office to inform her of the whole situation but were stopped by Daisy, who looked quite distressed.

“Have any of you seen Lily? I can’t find her anywhere.”, she said.

Sunset translated what Daisy said to ASL. “Calm Flower lost Annoying Flower.” All of them shook their heads.

“Are ya sure ya looked everywhere?”, AJ asked.

“Yes, I checked everywhere from the stacks to the basement. Then I asked her teachers if they’ve seen her, but she hadn’t shown up to any of her classes after lunch. I don’t know where she could’ve gone.”

“Could she have gone home?”, Fluttershy asked.

“Maybe, but I don’t think she did. I think she’s trying to get away from me.”

Sunset thought about it and what she would do in Lily’s possession. Well, it would be more accurate to say what she did do, but Lily was human. Would she do what a werewolf would do? “Is it possible she went out into the Everfree?”

“Uh, maybe.”

“AJ, do you think you can use your powers to check if she’s out there?”

“Oh yeah, that’s easy enough.”

All eight girls headed to their lockers to grab their jackets and glasses then headed outback. The tall trees covered in snow presented an intimidating scene for someone trying to find something. Winter was the one time a year the Everfree didn’t look like something out of a horror movie, but as pretty as it looks, the snow makes it way more dangerous, especially for some loco teenager.

“How much ya wanna bet we’ll find her frozen body.”, Pinkie said.

“That’s not funny!”, Daisy shouted fearfully.

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll cool it with the dark humor.”

AJ approached the trees and placed her hand on one. She closed her eyes and began searching for Lily.

Meg tapped Sunset on the shoulder to get her attention. “What she doing?”

“She talk to forest. Forest tell her if Annoying Flower is in it.”

“She’s in there, but Ah can’t say exactly where.”, AJ finally said.

“That means she’s pretty deep in, right?”, Sunset asked, remembering what AJ had said when they went hunting.

“Eyup”

“Okay, we should split up to cover more ground.”

“Yeah, but what about communication?”, RD asked. “What do you expect us to do when one of us finds her, walk around the forest and search for everyone else?”

“Uh, howl, once one of us finds her, howl to let everyone else know.”

“That works.”

Sunset turned to Meg to inform her of the plan. “We search for Annoying Flower. Howl when we find. Do you want to come or stay?”

Meg looked at the distressed Daisy then back at Sunset. “Stay, Calm Flower is not looking so calm.”

Sunset nodded and signaled for them to move out. They fanned out in all different directions and hurried deep into the forest. Snow gently fell from the sky. It would eventually cover any footprints Lily left, if it hadn’t already. Sunset sniffed the air. The last time she had to track someone through the snow was back when she was back when she was a mere O-2. That was so long ago. Tracking through the snow was different from non-snowy conditions, the cold alters the way scent travels, but it could still be done, especially since sound was pretty much out of the question.

Even with her sunglasses on, the bright snow was a bitch on Sunset’s thestral eyes. It also made everything blend into each other with the only different color being the brown tree trunks. At least that meant brightly colored winter clothes would stand out, so long as it wasn’t covered. But there is a reason winter’s Sunset’s least favorite time of year.

Saying she’d been searching for hours would’ve been an exaggeration, but that’s what it felt like to the cold and irritated Sunset. Lily just had to have a hissy fit and run out into the freezing cold forest just after Sunset regrew her conscience. She muttered curses towards Lily under her breath, both of the vulgar and witchy kind. She debated fluffing up to make the trek more bearable, but the last thing she wanted was to freak the girl out and have to chase her down in the snow. Oh, please make this difficult so I can have an excuse to beat the snot outta ya.

Sunset, being fed up with just walking around, found a good sized tree and climbed up. She got up to just before the point where the branches and pines got really thick and looked around. In the distance, she spotted a bit of hot pink that could only be a winter jacket. Not only were none of her girls wearing hot pink, there was also no movement, so it definitely wasn’t one of them. She climbed back down and walked to where she saw the pink. When she got there, she found Lily with her knees up to her chest, very much alive.

“Hey, your sister’s worried about you.”

Lily looked up at Sunset with a mightily pissed off face. “Like hell she does. Go away.”

“Lily, you’re gonna freeze out here. You can either walk back with me, or I can drag you back, but I’m not leaving you out here.”, Sunset said in a tired, irritated tone.

Lily stood up and tried to punch Sunset in the face. Her movements were slow and telegraphed, so Sunset easily caught the punch and pushed her arm away.

“Are you really gonna do this?”

Lily said nothing and walked closer to Sunset. Sunset watched her carefully for what she might do. Of all the things Sunset expected Lily to do, spitting in her face was not one of them. It landed right on the bridge of her nose, but Sunset closed her eyes in time to keep any of it from getting into her eyes.

Sunset pushed Lily away and staggered back herself. She wiped the spit from her face and glared at Lily. She actually had a smug look on her face. Sunset ran out of what little patience she had left and shifted into her furry werewolf form. She roared at Lily, and the utter fear on her face lifted her spirits greatly.

Lily tried to run, but Sunset easily grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Lily bit down hard onto Sunset’s arm. Sunset roared, ripped her arm free, and grabbed Lily by the neck. Lily grabbed Sunset’s arm and started kicking her. Her kicks were weak, but it still annoyed Sunset, so she threw her head first into the nearest tree. Lily slumped to the ground and stopped moving. Sunset examined Lily, who remained unmoving. Sunset’s mind began to come down from its “fight and kill” mode, and what exactly she had done hit her. Fuck! She hurried over and checked on her. She was alive, just dazed.

“Sigh, okay, can’t let that happen again.”

Lily tried to open her eyes and mumbled incoherently.

“Don’t try to move. You might have a concussion.”

Sunset wasn’t sure if Lily comprehended what she said, but she closed her eyes again.

Sunset slung Lily over her shoulder and howled into the sky. She trudged back to the school, shifting back to her human form as she reached the edge of the forest. Daisy and Meg were waiting exactly where they left them, and Sunset plopped Lily down by the former’s feet. “You might wanna take her to the hospital. She chose the hard way.”

Daisy nodded and tried to pick up Lily. Lily, using Daisy as a support, was able to pick herself up, and Daisy helped her sister walk back into the school.

Sunset and Meg waited for the rest of the girls to come out. One by one, they came out, and they too went back inside.

“Well, that was something.”, Rarity remarked.

The girls headed to Celestia’s office to do what they initially planned to do.

CHS halls

Date: Jan 6th, time: 8:15 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

The girls loitered in one of the less busy parts of the school, close to Sunset’s locker, as they waited for the bell. It was officially too cold to be waiting outside. By then, everyone knew Lily was Anon-a-Miss, and the page had been deleted. All in all, things were, once again, going well.

The girls were talking about their holidays when Sunset was wrapped up in a surprise hug. It took her a moment to realize it was Daisy, and she resisted the urge to shove her away.

“Oh, thank you thank you thank you.”, Daisy said.

“What for?”, Sunset asked. “And please let go. I don’t like being touched.”

“Oh, sorry.” Daisy let go and took a step back.

“Again, what are you thanking me for?”

Their interaction had the attention of the rest of the girls, and they all went quiet.

“Well, we went to the hospital, like you told us, and our parents came with the list of all the medications Lily was on. You see, Lily has bipolar disorder, and our doctor put her on some medication for it, and she had a bad reaction to it that caused her a lot of anxiety, so he put her on some medication for that, and I’m guessing she had a bad reaction to those meds, and he put her on more meds, and that happened again and again and again…”

“Get to the point. I don’t need her medical history.”

“Right, sorry. So, our parents gave the ER doctor her meds list, and she looked it over then asked for the name of Lily’s doctor, Dr. Baethan. I’m guessing he must’ve given her some stuff that should never be given together or to someone her age because the ER doctor left the room, went into another room down the hall, and closed the door behind her and I could still hear her yelling at Dr. Baethan about that, and that’s why she’s been acting like… the way she has.”

“Oh” A lot of Lily’s behavior was now starting to make sense.

“Yeah, so the doctors at the hospital have taken Lily off everything to make and are monitoring her to make sure she’s okay. We’re going to be seeing a different psychiatrist from now on. So, thank you for sending Lily to the hospital. Oh, and here.” Daisy pulled a computer and phone from her backpack and handed them to Sunset. “I’ve checked, and she doesn’t have any external storage devices.”

“Oh, thank you.” Sunset looked over the devices in her hands while trying to not let the phone slide off the computer. Said computer had a sticky note with a bunch of passwords with what they unlocked stuck to it. “I’ll return these once I’ve deleted all the recordings.”

“Okay” With that, Daisy walked off.

Sunset put the devices in her locker then turned her attention back to her girls. Just like her, they were all trying to process this new information.

“Is it even possible for meds ta do that to a person?”, AJ asked.

“Absolutely,” RD said, “especially if they’re psychiatric meds. That’s part of the reason paramedics ask you if you take any medications. My mom was once called to the house of a guy who was accidentally prescribed a couple of meds that shouldn’t be taken together. He was suffering from severe paranoia and delusions. Poor dude was scared out of his mind.”

“Oh”

“Hopefully, fixing her meds will fix her attitude.”, Pinkie said.

The girls eventually had to go to their classes, and Sunset was left alone with her thoughts. Learning that Lily was suffering like that and not fully in control of her actions caused guilt over beating her up to creep into Sunset’s heart, but she rationalized it away by reminding herself that she was operating with the information she had at the time. She just needed to gain better control over herself. Ms. Lance-Hart has been working with her on her “fight and kill mode”, but with it now being linked with her wolf, that needed to be a higher priority.

Once classes were over, Sunset took Lily’s devices to the stacks and searched them for the recordings Lily took. It didn’t take long to find them. The recordings lasted all five days the cameras were there. The first day, her room was empty aside from Sweetie Belle setting up the cameras. The second day, she’d recorded the entirety of their sleepover. The wolf/monkey part of Sunset’s brain was unsettled by seeing a recording of herself. The real problem came in the recordings of the remaining three days as the cameras had caught Rarity changing. Sunset permanently deleted every recording, erasing any trace of their existence. She made sure those were the only copies before tearing up the password note and putting them back in her bag.

Sunset exited the library in search of Daisy, but Lily still haunted her thoughts. Maybe I’ll feel better if I apologize to her. Crappy conscience, making me care about other people. Sunset found Daisy in the foyer and got her attention. “Hey, I’ve removed the recordings. You can have these back now.”

“That was quick.”

Sunset handed over the devices. “Are you going to the hospital?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Take me with you.”

“Uh, why?”

“Because I don’t feel good about beating up a mentally ill person. I want to apologize to see if that makes me feel better.”

“You want to apologize so you feel better?”

“I’m still a selfish bastard. That will never change.”

“Okay”

Daisy led Sunset to the bus and took her to the hospital. They went through the normal hospital stuff and headed to Lily’s room. “Hey, Lily, you have a visitor.” Daisy moved to let Sunset in.

Sunset took a few steps towards Lily then stopped. The girl that laid in the bed looked like Lily Valley, smelled like Lily Valley, and was being watched over by the Valley father, but she felt so different, less angry and more calm, more like her sister.

“Sunset, what are you doing here?”, Lily asked. Her voice was even calmer. It was still her voice but chiller.

“Daisy told me about your medication issue, so I wanted to check on you and say sorry for beating you up.”

“Right, about that… Dad, Daisy, could I speak to Sunset alone?”

The two of them looked confused but complied, and Sunset walked to the side of Lily’s bed.

“So, when we were in the woods, I saw something, and I’m not sure if I was seeing things or not.”

“And that something had to do with me?”

“Yes”

Sunset understood what she was saying. After checking to make sure the door was closed, she shifted into her werewolf form.

“Whoa, can you all do that?”

“I’m assuming you’re asking about the other Rainbooms, and no, this isn’t a result of my alien magic. This is much more terrestrial in origin. I am a werewolf, and so is my mother and sister.”

Lily’s eyes went wide as she looked over Sunset’s fluffiness. “You’re a family of werewolves.”

“We are, and my mother doesn’t want people knowing. She’s worried you humans will see us as bloodthirsty monsters.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell. I’m not looking for a round two.”

“Smart” With a roll of her head, Sunset shifted back to her human form.

“I am sorry about everything.”

“Yeah, I get why the CMC wanted to get rid of me, but what was your motive? I never did anything to you, and then you up and one day kissed my boyfriend and started this whole mess. What gives?”

“I’m not sure myself. I only remember just one day being mad at you and then every inconvenience you caused me being perceived as a great offense. That was around the time I started being pumped full of drugs, so I’m blaming that.”

“Oh, so, the whole time I’ve known you, you’ve been this screwed up, drugged version of yourself. Wait, we’re talking something like three years, I think… yeah, almost three years.”

“Yeah, I haven’t been my true self since middle school.”, Lily said solemnly.

“Damn… well, this real you seems nice. I’d like to get to know you.”

“Yeah, I’d like to get to know me too.”

Author's Note

After this chapter, I'm going to be taking a break from writing MLP. I do intend on finishing this story, but I wanna write something else for a while. If you want to read more werewolf superhero stories, you can visit my AO3 page.