It had been almost a week since Sunset had moved into Luna's home. Still she slept on the futon because the bed Luna had ordered had yet to show up. Every night she had the same nightmare that made her immediately wake up soaked in sweat. And every night she and Luna would sit together in the kitchen and talk about it while sipping on hot cocoa.

***

*rrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnngggggg*

Sunset grumbled to herself as she reached over to switch off the alarm clock. She heard the sounds of frying as Luna sang a jaunty little tune in the kitchen. A heavenly aroma filled the house. "Mmm! Bacon!" Her stomach grumbled and gurgled in response. She patted it. "I know, I know! I'll get you some once I get done peeing, taking a shower and getting dressed."

Sunset did what was quickly becoming her normal morning routine of grabbing each leg one-by-one, lifting it, manually bending it at the knee and bringing the knee up to her chest. She did this a few times for each leg, then she manually bent and straightened each leg.

Once Sunset had finished her shower and getting dressed, she rolled out to the kitchen. Wheeling up to the kitchen table, she sat in an awkward silence as Luna touched the first two fingers of her right hand to her forehead, stomach and both shoulders, making the sign of the cross, then said a small prayer. Once Luna had finished her prayer, Sunset cut slices from the fried eggs to eat, taking bites from the crunchy strips of bacon and crispy wedges of toast.

Luna looked across the table at her foster daughter eating breakfast. "Sunset, do you mind if I ask a question about ponies where you originally came from?"

"Sure!", the fiery-haired girl said around a mouthful of food

"I've seen you eat bacon several times now. Is it normal for ponies to eat meat?"

Sunset swallowed her mouthful of food, took a swallow of juice and wiped her mouth. "Actually it is. Though our diets are largely vegetarian, we still eat eggs. We buy milk and cheese from cows. Many farmers keep pigs to use their waste as fertilizer, and butcher them for their meat and hides. We also eat fish and shellfish."

Luna's head spun for a moment. "Ponies buy milk and cheese from cows?!"

"Yup! Cows are as smart as you or I...well Equestrian cows anyways."

"And your farmers keep pigs for fertilizer, meat and hides?"

"Mmhmm! We use the hides to make leather and parchment. Their fat is used in cooking, and can be rendered down to make a base used in lubricants for machinery and certain inks. Their bones are used to make bone meal."

"What if someone wants a hamburger?"

"Most burgers are made from a mixture of ground pork and hay. I know most of the burgers here are made from cow, but in Equestria, cows are as smart as you and me, so killing one for its meat is both murder and cannibalism. And that's highly illegal."

Luna looked down at her plate as the thoughts of an infamous serial killer cannibal from a few decades ago went through her head. Finding that her appetite had left her, she laid her form on her plate. "I find it weird that ponies eat meat."

"It's not that weird.", Sunset said as she shoved another forkful of egg into her mouth. "Ponies and humans have similar evolutionary histories. Both our species evolved from an omnivorous common ancestor, though with ponies, it was a split-hoofed pony-like ancestor rather than an ape-like ancestor."

It was before the morning bell at Canterlot High. Most of the students were in the cafeteria eating breakfast or milling about in the hallways or the various breezeways chattering with their friends. A few of the students huddled together in the blind spots of the school smoking cigarettes, thinking they were somehow "cool".

Rolling Thunder stepped out of the stall in the girl's restroom. She stepped up to the sink to wash her hands. She took a step back from the sink to look herself over in the mirror. She straightened her collar, made sure her hair was in place, then pulled a tube of black lipstick from inside her jacket pocket.

Lightning Dust limped into the restroom where Rolling was touching up her lipstick. Her eyes were red and puffy. Fresh blood trickled from her knuckles and her feet throbbed with pain. The image of Short Fuse sticking the pistol in his mouth and blowing his brains out played out in her head every time she laid eyes on Sunset Shimmer. And every time that image played out in her mind, she would run away and punch and kick a tree or a wall or whatever as she screamed her voice ragged until her feet throbbed with pain and her knuckles were bloody and raw. Her hands trembled from a combination of the pain, the damage done to them and the adrenaline burning off.

Lightning felt sick to her stomach as she limped over to a sink. With trembling hands that felt numb from the pain, she clumsily reached for the knob and twisted it, turning on the cold water so she could wash the blood from her hands. Suddenly her stomach felt like it twisted into a pretzel. Grasping the edges of the sink, she began heaving. Only a bit of stomach bile came up as she had eaten nothing that morning.

"Lightning, are you okay?", Rolling Thunder asked.

Lightning Dust watched the mixture of blood, water and stomach bile swirl down the sink drain. She cupped her trembling hands together, gathered water into her palms from the spigot, sucked it into her mouth, swished it around,and spat it into the sink. "M'fine."

"You don't look fine. Did you get in a fight?"

"No."

"Did somebody jump you?"

"No."

"Did you jump somebody?"

"No."

"Then how did your knuckles get busted up?"

Lightning Dust looked down at her bloody knuckles. For the past week she had been kicking and punching trees, walls, lockers and anything else that met her wrath when the image of Short Fuse shooting himself entered her brain, of Sunset hugging Rolling Thunder, her friend...HER FRIEND! It's unfair! IT'S UNFAIR! That bitch gets to LIVE while Fuse rots in the ground?! Tears welled up in her eyes, and for some reason some part of her mind thought it was funny. "Heh. Heh-heh! Heh-heh-heh! Hee-hee-hee! Hoo-hoo-hoo! Hah-hah-hah-hah!" The laughter and the tears pour forth in equal amounts as the memories and images of Sunset Shimmer falling to the floor as a deep crimson stain spread across the front of her shirt, the spray of pink coming from Short Fuse's head a split second after he stuck the pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger, the bright red pool forming around Short Fuse's head as he lay on his back, his glassy, sightless eyes staring up at the sky. She knew she shouldn't be laughing, but when she tried to stop, it just made more pour out, until she was cackling like a hyena. She threw her head back while laughing like a madwoman as tears joined the laughter.

Rolling Thunder took a few steps back. She wasn't sure what to do. She was watching her friend go insane before her very eyes and she didn't know what to do. "Uh...Lightning? Are you sure you're okay? I know I'd be a hundred kinds of fucked up if I saw Fuse shoot Sunset then--"

In that instant the laughing and the tears stopped. The grief and pain receded to reveal bald anger. She snapped around and began stalking towards Rolling Thunder.

Rolling Thunder felt her heart leap into her throat as almost like some flipped a switch, Lightning Dust stopped laughing and crying simultaneously, and quickly turned to face her. Her friend's face was a mask of pain and rage as she stalked forward. Rolling Thunder backpedaled across the tiled floor until her back was touching the white-painted cinder block wall. "Lightning? What's wr--"

"Don't!", Lightning Dust snarled. "Don't! You! Dare! You keep her name out your whore mouth!"

Anger filled Rolling Thunder and she stepped away from the wall to confront Lightning Dust face-to-face. Though Lightning was faster than her, she had a good four inches of height and a solid ten pounds over her. "What the fuck is your deal?!", she snapped as she bellied up to Lightning Dust.

"My deal? My deal?!", Lightning Dust growled through clenched teeth. "I saw you! I saw you with her! Traitor!"

Rolling Thunder blinked. "You saw me with who?"

"I saw you with her! Sluset Shimmer! What are you two now?! Girlfriends?! Fuck buddies?!" Lightning Dust's face turned morose. "You got with her and you forgot about me."

Rolling Thunder stared goggle-eyed at Lightning Dust. Something's bad wrong with her. "Lightning....you know as well as anybody that I don't date girls. Hell, I don't date boys either. Why didn't you come and talk to me or Sun--urk!"

Lightning Dust grabbed Rolling Thunder by her shirt collar and pinned her to the wall, choking the girl. "I. Told. You. Don't. Say. Her. NNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMEEEEEE!"

"Lightning! You're choking me!", Rolling Thunder croaked out.

Lightning Dust pulled Rolling Thunder away from the wall and shoved her across the tiled floor. "Go see Slutset and lick each other's pussies, or finger each other's assholes, or let her whore friends take turns on you, or whatever you sluts like to do! Don't ever talk to me again! I HATE YOU!"

Anger welled up in Rolling Thunder's chest and tears stung her eyes. Everything inside screamed for her to kick the ever loving shit out of Lightning Dust, but they had too much history together for her to take a swing. Something was terribly wrong with her friend and she didn't know what to do. Her hands trembled as tears ran down her cheeks and snot dripped from her nose. "Fine!", she shouted with a barking sob and ran out of the bathroom.

Lightning Dust walked over to one of the sinks so she could finish washing the blood from her hands. As the cold water ran over her hands, the anger began to burn away and the weight of what she had done began to settle in. Placing a hand on the mirror, she looked herself long and hard in the eyes. Anger and rage once again bloomed to life in her head. Only now she wasn't angry at Rolling Thunder, she was angry at the girl in the reflection. Balling up her hand into a fist, she drew it back and threw a punch at the mirror. "Fuck!", she screamed as spider web-like cracks spread across the mirror from under her fist. "Fuck!", she screamed again as she threw a punch with her other hand. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!", she screamed over and over and over again as she threw punch-after-punch-after-punch-after-punch at the mirror was nothing but broken shards.

Lightning Dust stared down at her trembling hands. Small pieces of broken mirror stuck from the flesh between her knuckles, dark red blood flowed from the wounds and down her fingers, where it dripped off into the sink. Turning on the faucet, she began washing the fresh blood from her hands as she pulled the pieces of broken mirror from her knuckles. Once she finished washing as much blood from her hands as she could, she pulled a green bandanna from her pocket, tore it in half and began wrapping her hands. It would have to do until she could steal some gauze from a first aid kit or the nurse's office to use as a better wrap.

Lightning Dust quickly looked around making sure no one was around or coming before bolting from the restroom.

Scootaloo had been one of the stalls listening, and occasionally peeking out as the events went down. She furiously scribbled what she had seen and heard on a notepad. After it was clear that Lightning Dust was gone, she came out of the stall. She looked at the aftermath of Lightning's mental breakdown, the bloodstains on the sink, the broken shards of mirror laying on the floor and in and on the sink, the pair of bloody knuckle-prints on the wall where the mirror used to be. She scribbled down a few more lines on the notepad before scampering out of the restroom.

***

Scootaloo sat in study hall. This was her free period. She waited for Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, her friends had the same free period as her. She didn't have to wait long, as first Sweetie Belle, then Apple Bloom, being accompanied by another girl, walked in.

"Hi, Scootaloo.", Sweetie Belle said in a slightly squeaky voice.

"Hiya, Scoots!", Apple Bloom said in a thick drawl.

"Who's this?", Scootaloo asked as she gestured to Cozy Glow.

"This here's my new pal! Her name's Cozy Glow!", Apple Bloom said, draping her arm around Cozy Glow's shoulders. "Cozy Glow, this here's my two bestest friends in the whole world, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle! And together we make up the..."

The three girls took in a deep breath and shouted,"THE CUTIE CRUSADERS! YAY!" They pulled capes that were gold on one side and red on the other, the capes had a shield stitched in the center of the gold side, from their backpacks. The three girls tied the capes around their necks and struck superhero poses as they imitated the sounds of fireworks.

The teacher sitting at the desk by the door shushed them.

"Let's take it outside!", Scootaloo whisper-shouted.

Once outside, the three girls gathered up around Cozy Glow.

"See, Ah toldja that my friends were cool!", Apple Bloom said.

"Gee golly whillakers!", Cozy Glow said in her most convincing and innocent-sounding tone she could muster. "What is it that the Cutie Crusaders do?"

All three girls gave halfhearted murmurs and scratched their heads. Sweetie Belle was the first to speak up. "I like taking pictures, Scootaloo likes creating websites, and Apple Bloom likes writing. So we decided to be..."

All three girls take in big breaths.

"CUTIE CRUSADER JOURNALISTS! YAY!"

Cozy Glow wiggled her fingers in her ears. How could three girls be as loud as a heavy metal concert?

"Oooo! Lookie-lookie, Silver Spoon! It's the flat-chested crusaders!", Diamond Tiara said as she walked up.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon snickered.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle wrapped their arms around their chests and slumped.

"That's not very nice, Diamond Tiara!", Apple Bloom snapped as she faced the rich girl bully. "Ah talked ta my sister an' she said Ah'd get mine when th' time was right, an' that she was a late bloomer too. Rarity an' Rainbow dash said they was late bloomers too! Ya ain't gotta rub it in our faces that'cha got yer tiddies a'fore us."

"Ooooo! Mi-mi-mi-mi-mi!", Diamond Tiara mocked as she flapped her hand in the imitation of a mouth. "You're just jealous that none of the boys talk to you because you look like a boy."

Cozy Glow steepled her fingers as a wicked smile spread on her lips. I think a perfect opportunity has revealed itself. She stepped up to Diamond Tiara, standing uptight. Though she had the mind of a well trained forty-five year old spy and assassin, she had the body of a fourteen year old girl, which meant that her body looked like it had two years longer of development over the twelve year old girl. "Golly! That's not very nice to say. Especially when compared to me, you look like you've got mosquito bites."

Diamond Tiara's face flushed bright red.

Silver Spoon covered her mouth as she snickered.

The Cutie Crusaders snickered.

Diamond Tiara snapped her head over to Silver Spoon, cutting her friend's snickering off, then back to Cozy Glow. "Why you...that's...but...farfignewton!", she sputtered, which made the Cutie Crusaders and Silver Spoon crack up laughing. Diamond Tiara was not amused in the least bit. "You...you...you...take that back!"

"Make me!"

"Why you!" Diamond Tiara made an improper fist by first laying her thumb across her palm then curled her fingers down over it. She reached back and threw a flailing, limp-wristed "punch".

Cozy Glow grabbed her by the wrist. In a fraction of a second a dozen of different moves ran through her head as her training instincts kicked in, she could break this girl's arm easily in three places, she could flip this girl down onto the pavement and stomp on her head, she could collapse this girl's trachea by punching her in the throat, she could bend this girl's knee backwards and then shatter her jaw by driving her own knee up into it, she could shove the ink pen in her dress' pocket into the girl's eye socket, she could pull one of the pencils in her dress pocket and stab this girl a half dozen times in the lung. Through what all her training and instincts were telling her to do, a voice whispered, a voice that had been ingrained into her from her youngest days of training. 'Don't blow your cover.' She tossed aside all the things she could do to maim, mangle or kill this girl, and instead opted for something that a middle school-aged girl would do. *slap*

Diamond Tiara recoiled from the slap. A bright red handprint formed on her cheek as she stood stunned for a moment. Once her brain caught up that she'd been hit, she brought her hand up to her cheek and felt the hot, slowly rising welt there. "You...you-you-you...hit me!"

Cozy Glow stood defiantly. "Because you tried to hit me." Consider yourself lucky that all I did was slap you. Also, get someone to teach you how to make a fist and throw a punch. If I had let you hit me, you would have broken your thumb.

"NOBODY HITS ME!"

The Curie Crusaders took positions on either side of Cozy Glow. "So what'cha gon' do 'bout it?", Apple Bloom asked.

"I'll tell on you and get you in trouble!"

Cozy Glow pointed at the surveillance camera that had been pointed at their position the whole time. "Do it and you'll get in trouble too."

The Cutie Crusaders "Ooo'd" at that.

"Well I--well I...gah!" Diamond Tiara threw her arms up in frustration, then turned on her heel and stormed off. "Come on, Silvy. We got better things to do than mess around with the boy-chest crusaders and their new 'pal'." She looked over her shoulder as she stormed off with Silver Spoon and glared at Cozy Glow. I'll get you back for this!

After Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon left, the Cutie Crusaders let out a collective sigh.

"That...was...AWESOME!", Scootaloo shouted, making Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle flinch. "You were like a ninja! When she tried to hit you, you were all like, WAH-CHA!...and caught her hand! Then you went, WHAM!...and slapped her on the face!" She waved her hands in a series of chopping motions. "Where'd you learn those sweet moves?"

"Umm...from watching Kung-fu movies and karate videos on UsTube.", Cozy Glow said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "Golly! You don't think I hurt her, do ya?"

"Nah! Not too bad.", Apple Bloom said. "Mostly jus' her pride. Though she'll be lucky if'n anything tastes right ever again."

"So about the Cutie Crusaders...can I join your club.", Cozy asked as she twisted the toe of her shoe on the pavement.

The crusaders huddled up and whispered. Cozy Glow sat silently as she read their lips, she knew that they had decided to let her join and now they were arguing about what would happen if you dunked a turtle into nuclear waste.

"We've come to a conclusion.", Apple Bloom said. "You get to be a...

*deep breath*

"CUTIE CRUSADER! YAY!", all three shouted.

Sweetie Belle pulled a pencil box out of her backpack and flipped it open. Pulling out a sheet of stickers, she peeled one off that was in the shape of a shield with "CC" in bubble letters on either side of the shield and stuck it to the shoulder of Cozy's dress. "Rarity helped me design these stickers. It will hafta do until we can get you your own cape."

Cozy Glow looked down at the sticker on her dress. She clapped her hands and jumped up and down in place."Ohhh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're not an official crusader yet, even though we all agree you're in.", Scootaloo said.

Cozy Glow put on the best puppy dog eyes and pouty lip she could muster as she gave a fake sniffle. "I-I'm not?"

"Nope!", Apple Bloom said. "At least not until yer initiation."

"She gets to burst into flames?! I wanna burst into flames!", Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Ah said initiation, not ignition, ya idjit!", Apple Bloom said."Ya know, th' ceremony that makes her an official Cutie Crusader."

"I knew that.", Scootaloo said.

"Did not!", Apple Bloom retorted.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

The two girls got face-to-face.

"Too-too-too-too-too-too-too!"

"Not-not-not-not-not-not-not-not!"

"Did too times infinity!"

"Did not times infinity plus one!"

Sweetie Belle shoved her way in between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. "Girls! Let's not fight. Cozy Glow's ini...initi...uh, joining ceremony, remember?"

"So what's this ceremony gonna be like?", Cozy Glow asked. I'm pretty sure it's not going to have booze, cocaine and an orgy.

"It's a secret, wwwwwwwwooooooooo!~", the three girls said in spooky voices as they wiggled their fingers.

"If'n ya can, come by my place tuhnight. We'll have a sleepover in th' Cutie Crusader Clubhouse.", Apple Bloom said.

***

Cozy Glow sat in the back of the car as Underhand, the agent who was posing as her mother drove them to Sweet Apple Acres. "Are you sure I won't need a pistol?"

"They're twelve year old girls, not M-I-six agents or child soldiers. You're going to eat junk food, tell scary stories and watch dumb movies...maybe call and hang up on boys. They're not going to attempt to topple a government, assassinate an elected official or attempt to blackmail a CEO in a honeypot scheme."

"When I was twelve, I had already assassinated two different world leaders and discredited a member of the Russian parliament.", Cozy said as she reached into her rolled up sleeping bag and ran her thumb over the suppressed Beretta's safety.

"Well not all of us were raised in a Specter program, groomed to be a spy and assassin from the time we were three. Most of us had normal...or at least semi-normal childhoods growing." Underhand glanced in the rear view mirror and raised an eyebrow. "You brought a sidearm, didn't you?" She stretched her hand back. "You know the first rule of any deep cover mission."

"Do nothing to compromise the mission and don't blow your cover.", Cozy Glow said with a sigh. She pulled out the pistol and laid it in Underhand's hand.

"Geez! No need to go all James Bond. They're just three twelve year old girls.", Underhand said as she slid the pistol between the seats. "You got any other weapons on you I should know about?"

"Just a stiletto jackknife.", Cozy said. "It's a little memento I took from a Narco about ten years ago who had threatened to drop the dime on a Specter weapons facility in the hopes of getting some leniency on his sentence. The guy had a taste for young girls. The look on his face was priceless when I jammed his own knife into his throat." She put on an innocent act as she batted her eyes, pouted her lip and put an innocent uptick in her voice as she said, "The only reason why I brought the pistol is because the Apple farm sits on the edge of some dark and scary woods. Gee golly, you don't think there are some dangerous animals that could show up, do ya?"

"Buh! Don't talk like that around me when we're alone!", Underhand said with a shudder. "And, no. I don't think there's any dangerous animals that will show up this close to the city."

As the car pulled up to the farmhouse, Cozy Glow and Underhand quickly got into character as "daughter" and "mother".

The car pulled to a stop and Cozy Glow got out. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran up to her squealing. The three girls and one secret forty-five year old woman jumped up and down in place as they squealed and giggled and shouted.

Applejack and Big Mac walked over to the driver's side window. "Dun ya worry yer head none, missus Glow. Cozy here'll be safer'n a baby calf in a field of pillows. Ain't that right, Macintosh?"

"Eeyup!"

"Oh, I'm not worried about Cozy Glow. The girl's tougher than she looks. I'm sure she'll be safe and have fun.", Underhand said in her best soccer mom voice.

"C'mon, Cozy Glow!", Apple Bloom said excitedly. "Let's get to th' clubhouse."

Cozy Glow let out a whistle as she looked up at the clubhouse nestled in a three-way fork of an apple tree. It looked like it could be a regular house. "This is your clubhouse?"

Apple Bloom buffed her fingernails on her shirt. "Eeyup! Built it myself."

"Bwah?!"

"Applejack provided me with ev'rything Ah needed. Hammer, nails, saw, screwdriver, screws, planks, buckets o' paint. Took me near on three days ta finish. 'Course Ah cheated a lil. It was her clubhouse first. The joists were still in pretty good shape, ev'rything else was fallin' apart."

"Three days! By herself!", Cozy Glow wheezed as she stared blankly at the clubhouse.

Scootaloo waved her hand in front of Cozy Glow's face. "Apple Bloom, I think you broke her."

***

Cozy Glow had put that Apple Bloom had practically built a clubhouse the size of a studio apartment all by herself in three days on the back burner of her mind, that would have to be tested some other time...if she had the spare time. She was pretending to enjoy herself at the sleepover. The "secret initiation" was nothing more than the girls chanting some nonsense, then proclaiming she was now a Cutie Crusader. Sweetie Belle had presented Cozy Glow with a cape she made herself.

The three girls and Cozy Glow tied the capes around their necks and struck dramatic superhero poses while they made fireworks sounds with their mouth.

Then the feast of soda, s'mores, candy and other tooth-rotting goodness began. After twenty minutes of stuffing her face with s'mores, candy bars, snack cakes, a whole host of hard and soft candies, and washing it all down with soda-after-soda, Cozy Glow began to feel a bit sick. Never in her life had she eaten this much refined sugar and processed flower, she had trained since she was a toddler how to be an assassin and a spy, not stuff her face with candy and soda and snack cakes and all sorts of other junk foods, but she still forced herself to power through it.

"Boom-shaka-laka-shaka-laka!", Scootaloo shouted as she started shaking an unopened soda can.

"Dun ya do it, Scoots!", Apple Bloom said sternly as she shook her finger. "Ah! Ah! Dun!"

Scootaloo continued to chant,"Shaka-laka-laka-shaka-laka-laka!" She grabbed the tab, pulled it and shouted,"BOOM!"

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Cozy Glow dove for cover as sugary, sticky, fizzy, brown liquid sprayed through the air, though it was for naught as they wound up getting sprayed with it.

Apple Bloom tackled Scootaloo to the floor, snatched up an unopened soda can and began shaking it. "Let's see how ya like it!" With a hiss of carbonation, she cracked the shaken up soda can in Scootaloo's face.

Scootaloo opened her mouth as she tried to catch as much of the soda spraying in her face as possible. She only caught a little bit in her mouth.

Cozy Glow broke out in giggling snorts as she pointed at the soda soaked Scootaloo. The sugar high was getting to her. *splat* She wiped off her face and looked down at the remains of a snack cake. She glared at Sweetie Belle who was holding her sides as she guffawed.

"I'm sorry *wheeze* I'm sorry!", Sweetie said between wheezing guffaws. "I was trying to *wheeze* to toss you a cream puff not *wheeze* hit you in the *snort*" Her snort sent her rolling on the floor with a new bout of guffaws.

Sweetie Belle sat up. "I'm sorry Cozy. I didn't--" *splat* A tube-shaped, cream-filled yellow spongy snack cake hit her square on the nose. Cozy Glow had thrown it and was now laughing her ass off.

The clubhouse broke out into a four-way food fight. Snack cakes and marshmallows flew through the air, as shaken up cans of soda sprayed cones of their sticky, sugary, carbonated contents.

The food fight lasted barely twenty minutes before the three girls and Cozy Glow had run out of "ammunition" and the sugar high had burned off. They lay amongst the mess chuckling and panting.

"Welp! Best we start cleanin' up this here mess, a'fore th' ants git in here.", Apple Bloom said.

"Aw man!", Scootaloo griped.

Sweetie Belle sang a happy tune in her bell-like voice as the crusaders began cleaning up the mess they'd made. Fortunately there had been a spigot with a water hose outside the clubhouse. Apple Bloom used it to wash the sticky stuff off of the walls and floor, and out the trap door concealed in the floor. The three girls and Cozy Glow stepped out of the clubhouse and each took turns washing the stickiness out of their hair and from their faces with the water hose.

Once everything had dried up, the girls and Cozy glow went back inside and grabbed their sleeping bags. Cozy Glow had forgotten that she had hidden the switchblade in her sleeping bag and it fell out, clattering on the floor when she unrolled it.

Scootaloo quickly snatched up the switchblade. When Cozy Glow tried to take it back, she snatched away. Pressing the button to make the blade flip out with a spring loaded *snik!* She exclaimed with wide, glittering eyes, "Oh cool! It'sjust like from that biker movie, 'Rebel without a Clue'!" She began making stabbing motions in the air. "Take that ya filthy coppers!", she said imitating the main character.

"Give that back!", Cozy Glow snapped. "It's not a toy!"

"Scoots, you shouldn't play with knives. Big Mac taught me that knives are dangerous tools an' someone could get hurt if'n you play with'em. Give Cozy back her knife."

Scootaloo gave a huff. "Fine, ya sissies!" She pressed the button on the handle and was shocked when it didn't close. "Wait...how do I...it always works like this in the movies."

*knock-knock-knock*

The door to the clubhouse swung open and Applejack stepped in. "Jus' checkin' in on ya girl ta see how y'all're--Scootaloo! Where in tarnation didja get a jackknife?! Give it here a'for ya cut yer cockamamie fingers off!" She quickly forward and plucked the knife from Scootaloo's hand.

"It fell out of Cozy's sleeping bag.", Scootaloo said meekly.

Applejack pushed the blade lock down on the switchblade and folded the knife shut. "Cozy Glow, is that true? You had this here weapon in yer sleepin' bag?"

Cozy Glow put her hands behind her back, twisted the tips of her toes back and forth on the floor, and gave the puppy dog eyes. "Uh-huh. I had forgotten that I had put it in my sleeping bag, and when I opened it, it sorta...fell out. Golly gee! I didn't mean for nobody to get in trouble!"

"An' where'd you get this knife?", Applejack asked as she shoved the switchblade into her hatband.

"It was my grandfather's. He was a soldier in the war. He was very brave. Daddy gave it to me. He told me to keep it safe and that it might one day save my life."

Applejack mused on Cozy's story. Though her story made sense, there was a niggling doubt scratching at the back of her mind. Every instinct was saying that there was more to little miss Glow's story, but she didn't have anything to disprove it, so she decided to drop it. "Nobody was hurt, so ain't nobody in trouble. Ah'll hang on to this fer tonight, 'cause th' last thing we need is one o' you girls loppin' off a finger or two." She looked straight at Scootaloo at that last part. "Other'n Scoots playin' with a knife, looks like ev'rybody's doin' pretty good. So Ah'll let y'all get back ta yer slumber party. AN' dun worry yer head none, Cozy. Ah'll give ya yer knife back in th' mornin'." With that she left, softly closing the door behind her.

"Whew!", Scootaloo exclaimed as she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. "I thought I was in deep doo-doo."

"Just be glad we cleaned up a'fore the knife fell out of Cozy's sleepin' bag.", Apple Bloom said. "We'd'a been up Schitt's Creek without a paddle."

"Huh?", Scootaloo and Sweetie Belles said simultaneously.

"Jus' somethin' Ah heard Applejack an' Big Mac say. They said Schitt was a man who owned a creek that was dangerous ta go on without a paddle.", Apple Bloom explained.

"Makes sense to me.", Sweetie Belle said. "It's a shame that Mr. Schitt had such a dangerous creek. So what do you girls want to do now?"

"Didn't you girls say you wanted to be journalists?", Cozy Glow asked.

"Yeah!", the three girls said.

"Ah took down some notes o' th' things Ah saw folks doin' and what they were talkin' 'bout.", Apple Bloom said.

"Me too!", Scootaloo exclaimed. "I even got some juicy notes from when I heard Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder having a fight."

"Why don't you two take your notes out so we can see and compare them?", Cozy Glow asked.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom took their notepads out of their bags.

"You've got some good stuff here.", Cozy Glow said after she flipped through the pages. She paid special attention to the notes taken about Lightning Dust. This girl's got some raw talent and a high pain tolerance. I bet with a little post-hypnotic suggestion and some brainwashing, she could make the perfect unaware sleeper agent. "Did any of you girls get any good photos or videos?"

"I got a funny video of the janitor.", Sweetie Belle said with a snicker. "He was washing the wall where someone had thrown up. It kinda looks like he's peeing! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ah!" She clutched her sides as she rolled on the floor laughing.

"Really?! Lemme see!", Scootaloo excitedly shouted.

Sweetie Belle took her phone out of her bag and pulled the video up. All three girls gathered around the phone.

"OH MY GAWD!", Apple Bloom shouted. "It does look like he's peein'!"

"Looks like you've got a full bladder buddy. Just peeing all over that wall!", Scootaloo exclaimed. "Cozy! You gotta see this!" She turned the phone around so that Cozy Glow could see.

Cozy Glow gave a chuckle. The janitor was spraying down the wall with a hose and from the angle it was shot at, it looked a little like he was peeing.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom pulled out their phones and began flipping through the videos they'd shot.

With the girls momentarily distracted, Cozy Glow steepled her fingers as a malicious thought began running through her mind. I could use these girls to gather information on everyone at the school and find out what caused the massive EMP spikes. I'll help them set up a slam page that airs everyone's dirty little secrets to keep the kids distracted, and when the time comes, I'll grab whatever caused the spikes. The best part is that there's no need to cause any chaos personally, just tweak the teenage rumor mill a little.

"Oh my god, Apple Bloom! You got a video of Ditzy accidentally trashing the art room?!", Scootaloo shouted. "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Look at all that paint and all that pottery fly! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Oh,this is going to be easier than I thought. "Scootaloo. You said you like making websites?", Cozy asked.

"Yeah. I made the official Rainbow Dash fan page. She's so cool!"

"How about we make an unofficial school news site? We can create a MyStable, Faceplace, Skwakr and Diddit accounts for it, and post up the latest so the students can find the site easier." Since the advent of the internet, it made her job much easier. This was going to be a cakewalk, she wasn't going to use her manipulation and subterfuge skills to tear down a multi-billion, multi-national corporation, or cause chaos and anarchy in a nation, she was going to use her skills to pit a whole bunch of hormone-addled teenagers against one another. And the best part, those three girls were going to be her unaware accomplices and unknowing fall guys if things went sour. "Sweetie Belle, you're really good at taking pictures and videos, right?"

Sweetie Belle nodded her head. "Yeah. But why would we make a school news site when the school already has one?"

"This isn't going to be an official school news site. We'll let the official one talk about things like the sports teams, the various clubs, upcoming events and the like. What this site will do is talk about the things that the official school news site doesn't consider newsworthy."

"You mean things like who's dating who, or what people are wearing?", Sweetie asked.

"Booooorrrrrr-ring!", Scootaloo said with gusto. "We can do articles about people getting into fights. Have videos of people falling down, like that video of Ditzy accidentally trashing the art room."

"Ah dunno.", Apple Bloom said. "Ah dun wanna do nuthin' that will hurt people."

"We could videos of people picking their noses or scratching their butts! Ewww!", Sweetie Belle said as she kicked her feet.

"Yeah Yeah! We can do video of people's pants falling down, showing everyone their underwear!", Scootaloo said full of excitement.

"And we can have articles of spooky, scary and weird stuff. Things like any ghosts, demons, werewolves and strange lights seen at the school.", Cozy Glow added.

"Ooooo! Spooky fun!", Sweetie Belle said.

"So how're we gonna do this without gettin' caught?", Apple Bloom asked.

"Easy!", Scootaloo chimed in. "I can make the designs of the website on my laptop, then transfer it onto a thumb drive. Then I can upload the designs to a domain from a computer in the school library or computer lab."

"That's a little easy to get caught, don't'cha think?", Cozy asked. "I mean it's not like you can sneak in and use the computers there without someone noticing."

"Yeah!", Apple Bloom said. "We can use th' computers at th' public library an' at coffee shops. An' we can't get in trouble with th' principals or teachers 'cause we won't be at school when we do it."

"Who's the best at editing photos and videos?", Cozy Glow asked.

"That'd be me.", Scootaloo said.

"And who's the best at creative writing?", Cozy asked.

"Yo!", said Apple Bloom.

"Excellent!", Cozy Glow said softly. "Now we just need a name for the site.", she said louder.

"How about Anon-A-Miss?", Sweetie asked.

"Nah! We'd be copying the folks who hang out on four-chin.", Scootaloo said. "How about Peeping Eye?"

"No. That makes us sound like perverts.", Apple Bloom said. "Hmm!" She taped her chin in thought. "I've got it! We call the site Gabby Gums!"

"Ooo! I like it!", Sweetie said excitedly.

"Gabby Gums it is!", Scootaloo said. "We've got all weekend to get it set up." She pulled the laptop out of her bag and began working.

As all three girls gathered around Scootaloo's laptop, Cozy Glow pulled out her phone and sent a message through the Specter app to the agents posing as her parents.

BBYDLL: Found a potential student who might be a candidate for post-hypnotic programming and brainwashing. Her name is Lightning Dust. She exhibits a high pain tolerance and is an athlete. Her mental trauma might make it easier to break her down and build her up again.

NDRHND: Will keep an eye on her and track her motions. Besides her pain tolerance and trauma, why do you consider her a candidate for the marionette program?

BBYDLL: In the event I need muscle to acquire information or to cause mayhem in the event my cover gets blown. Plus we can milk her for information. In the event we wind up not having any use for her, we can program a self-terminate protocol. She'll just be another teenage suicide statistic.

BCKSTB: Will keep a watch out for her and upon your order, we'll nab her.

Cozy Glow closed the Specter app on her phone. Underhand was always cautious, maybe a bit overly cautious. But being overly cautious was sometimes a good thing and Cozy trusted Underhand's instincts. Back-stab was a perfect shadow. He could disappear into a crowd, completely melt into any persona until his personality was unrecognizable from the persona that served as his front. Plus he had no qualms about killing or abducting anyone, regardless of age, status or title.

***THREE DAYS LATER***

The Gabby Gums website went live on Sunday afternoon. A smattering of edited videos and pictures had been uploaded onto it. Alerts went out across the social media pages created to boost its popularity.

Monday morning rolled around and students were already sharing links to videos and pictures that had been posted up on Gabby Gums. They laughed at the heavily edited video that made the janitor look like he was peeing on a wall, complete with yellow stream.

Ditzy walked through the halls of the school. Students holding up their phones snickered and laughed as she walked past. The grey-skinned, blonde-haired, golden-eyed girl raised an eyebrow as she walked past. The students whispered and snickered as she continued walking past. Their snickering and whispering was accompanied with them pointing their phone's cameras at her began to annoy her. She turned to face a small group of them, three boys, Hoops, Dumb-Bell and Score. "What's your--woop!" He feet got tangled up with each other and she fell, face-planting on the floor.

As Ditzy lifted her head up from the floor, blood trickling from her nose, Dumb-Bell jumped forward, phone in his hands, it was clear he was filming her. "Epic ffffffaaaaaiiiiiiilllll!", he shouted. "Yo, dudes! Did you get that?", he shouted to Score and Hoops as the three ran off.

Sunset rolled up and reached a hand down to help Ditzy up. A dour look was on her face.

"Wh-what's going on? Why's everyone laughing at me?", Ditzy asked as she rose to her feet.

Sunset blew out a sigh."Ditzy...there's a new website that went up this weekend. It has a bunch of videos and pictures of people...well I think it's better if I show you." She flipped her phone around to show Ditzy the video and pressed the play button.

The video showed Ditzy walking into the art room as dopey music played. When the video showed her tripping and accidentally knocking over, air horns blew as a deep, echoing voice shouted,"EPIC FAIL!", accompanied by big, bold, flashing letters saying the same.

"It's not my fault! It's not my fault!", Ditzy cried.

Sunset looked around the hall and scowled at the snickering students who were holding out their phones, hoping to catch another video of Ditzy falling. "Come on. Let's go somewhere where there's not so many assholes around."

Sunset and Ditzy made their way to the concrete picnic tables near the rear of the school.

Ditzy flopped down on the bench and buried her face in her hands. "It's not my fault!"

"I know, Ditzy. I know.", Sunset said as she laid her hand on the distraught girl's shoulder.

"It's not my fault! I have a neurological disorder. It screws up my eyes and robs me of my depth perception. It makes it so that I have trouble knowing where my arms and legs are, and sometimes I have the weird seizures where my arms and legs go wild."

Sunset was momentarily stricken silent. "I'm such a bitch.", she said with a sigh. "Ditzy, I want to apologize to you. For nearly three years I made fun of you because I thought you were clueless and clumsy. I called you such mean names and the whole time you did nothing but smile back."

"It's okay.", Ditzy said, patting Sunset on her knee. She realized what she had done and recoiled her hand."I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to...I mean--"

"It's okay.", Sunset said cutting Ditzy off. "You didn't mean anything by it."

"But-but your legs--"

"Are numb, not diseased." Sunset slapped her thigh to demonstrate. "See? Can't feel a thing."

"H-how far are you...ya know?"

"From my hips down. Don't worry, I don't need a diaper or a catheter or whatnot. I can feel when I need to go."

"Well...that's good...I guess."

***

Wednesday rolled around and Gabby Gums was still rolling strong.

Principal Celestia was walking through the hallway. Students began whispering chants of, "Cake! Cake! Cake!", from behind after she passed. She raised an eyebrow at the whispered chanting, but otherwise gave no indication that she heard them or even cared, over the years as an educator, she had experience many of the boys...and a few of the girls, whispering lewd comments as she passed. Teenagers with raging hormones and still developing minds hadn't learned the finer points of checking out someone subtly. Turning a corner where there were no students, she stopped and ran her hands across her backside. "Maybe I have plumped out a little. I'm not a spring chicken anymore."

As Celestia walked up to her office door, two students came walking out. One whispered to the other,"You think she'll like them?" "You know she likes it and maybe it'll keep us out of detention.", the other whispered back.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at that. Walking into her office, she paused. There sitting on her desk were two boxes, one white, the other pink, they looked like pastry boxes. Lifting the lid on the pink box, she stared at the deep, dark brown frosting on a cake. A German chocolate cake to be exact. "Huh! Why would a student bring me a whole cake?" She lifted the lid of the white box. A cake with pale yellowish-white frosting sat in the box with pecan halves decorating the edges. She dipped a finger into the frosting and tasted it. Buttercream frosting. She pushed some of the frosting aside to look at the pastry beneath the frosting. Her suspicions were confirmed, red velvet cake. She made the sign of the cross. "Thank you Jesus for your blessings. Now to figure out why those two brought me cakes."

Luna stepped into Celestia's office.

"Luna, look at this. Two students brought me cakes. The quandary is why."

Luna pulled the phone out of her pocket. "Celly, I think I've got the solution to your mystery. This weekend someone from this school created a new website called Gabby Gums."

"So? Students make websites all the time. Lemme guess, it's a 'bring the principal cakes' website."

"Not quite.", Luna pulled up the site and clicked on the link for the picture. It showed Celestia sitting at the teacher's table, she was holding a slice of cake in her hand, bringing it up to her mouth to take a bite, the caption read,"Principal Celestia really likes her cake!", in bold, blocky white all caps letters.

Celestia chuckled."So somebody took a picture of me at lunch going ham on a piece of cake and now some students are pranking me by bringing me cake. Big deal. This'll blow over when a video of a cute kitten sneezes in a funny way pops or someone comes up with another silly dance on ClipClop."

"It's not like that, Celly.", Luna said. She clicked on other links, some led to pictures done up in meme formats, some had ridiculous captions, others had mean captions. Some of the links led to videos of students having awkward and inconvenient things happen to them. "There's also articles on here, some of them are accusing students of cheating on tests, or their boyfriends or girlfriends. Others are saying really really mean rumors about some of the students or airing their dirty laundry. This site has already sparked a few fights and some new rounds of bullying. There are even heavily edited pictures and videos of some of the faculty making them look like they're doing...inappropriate things."

Celestia pursed her lips in thought. "Let's keep an eye on this website. If it lasts longer than to the end of next week, or any bullying inspired by it really ramps up, I'll call in a favor to track them down. Then we'll deal with whichever students are behind it."

"I'll ask the staff who oversees the computer lab to check the site's IP address. If nothing else, we can figure out where they're uploading from and then move forward from there.", Luna said.

Rainbow was in the locker room stripping out of her athletic gear. Soccer practice was over. The drying sweat clinging to her skin made her feel gross and she wanted nothing more than to get a shower. Several of the girls were in various stages of undress. Some of them were looking at their phones and snickering. "Are you guys on that Gabby Gums website again? Yeah, a few of the pictures and videos on there are funny, but most are just mean. C'mon guys, you're better than that."

"This article has you in it.", Fleetfoot said.

"Oh really? I bet it talks about how awesome I am!"

"Not really.", Spitfire said. "you might want to read this. It's kinda messed up."

Rainbow Dash pulled her phone out of her bag and pulled up the site. She quickly found the article. Above the headline it had photos of the heads of her, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, Rolling Thunder, and Lightning Dust. She read the article.

Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder friendship over? Lover's quarrel? Breakup? Cheating? Lesbian orgy?

I, Gabby Gums, recently came across the news about a quarrel between Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder. According to reliable witnesses, Lightning Dust accused Rolling Thunder of having sexual relations with the former(?) bully, Sunset Shimmer and her new friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Is there any truth to these accusations? Has Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder broken up? Did Rolling Thunder cheat on her ex-girlfriend?

Rainbow Dash read the article, closed the page, clicked her phone off and tossed it in her bag. "Uncool."

"So, is it true? Are you having nasty seven-way orgies with your friends and Rolling Thunder?", Gilda asked as she pulled her jersey off.

"What?! No!"

"What about you and Sunset Shimmer? I bet you've got a thing for cripples.", Mist Fly said with a half-snicker.

"No way, man! Did you all forget that until after what happened at the formal, Sunset was a total C-U-Next-Tuesday?", Rainbow said. "Is she hot? Yes. Would I fuck her? No. Because I don't see her that way."

"I bet you're totally a cripple crusher.", Misty Fly said. "I bet you're all, 'Oh Sunset! Let's do it in your wheelchair! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!'" She turned her back on Rainbow as she made kissy sounds, running her hands up and down her sides.

The other girls began laughing.

"No way! Misty Fly, you're taking it too far!", Rainbow snapped.

"Relax, bish! Don't get your ovaries twisted in a knot. I'm just joshing you.", Misty Fly said. "We all know you've got eyes for Applejack."

Rainbow's cheeks turned rosy."Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-aaaaaaaaaaaaat?! Naw!"

"Oh yeah! You totally do!", Gilda said. "You wanna smash that apple so hard that applesauce comes out."

Rainbow's face felt like it was on fire. She sputtered as her brain forgot how to form words.

"What. The. FUCK!", Rolling Thunder's voice shouted from outside.

"Oh shit!", Gilda said.

***

Friday rolled around and the school was abuzz about the latest things on Gabby Gums. Some students bickered about their dirty laundry, one accusing the other of being Gabby Gums, or talking to them, spilling their secrets. Some students mocked and bullied other students because of some embarrassing picture or video. A few students got into fist fights over what was posted upon the site. Copycat sites started to pop up, created by other students.

Over at Crystal Prep Academy, a lavender-skinned student wiped the tears from her eyes. Someone had secretly taken a picture of her while she was changing in the locker room in just her granny panties and beige bra and posted it up on one of the Gabby Gums copycat sites along with her cellphone number. Almost immediately she began receiving lewd messages from guys asking for nude pictures, or sending unsubtle innuendo-laden messages...more than a few sent her lewd pictures of their parts. She had always had trouble in social situations that made it hard for her to make friends. This new set of unwanted harassment drove a wedge further between her and her fellow students. Tomorrow she'd get a new phone and number. In it would be the only numbers she could trust, her parents, her brother and her former babysitter. From inside her backpack came a yip. Unzipping the backpack, she revealed a small purple dog with light green ears and underbelly, a darker green fluff of hair atop its head, and light purpleish-grey spots on its barrel. She let the dog leap out of her backpack and began scratching its ears. She giggled when the dog kicked its hind legs as she scratched its hindquarters."Oh Spike, you're the best friends a girl can have!"

Cozy Glow strode through the hallways of Canterlot High. The chaos was building and had reached the point where it was palpable. The whole social setting at the school was reaching a volatile state, it wouldn't be long until all it needed was a single spark to set the whole place off, and she was holding the metaphorical box of matches. Today was not the day she set the social setting of the school ablaze, no, she had another task occupying her focus. It was reaching the end of the school day and she was a predator setting its ambush for a very specific prey.

Lightning Dust sat in a stall in the girl's restroom. She peeled the old gauze off of her hands. Her knuckles were still bloody and raw. They would have already begun healing if she would stop punching hard things, but she couldn't make herself stop, the pain of punching trees, walls and lockers was the only thing that kept the horrible images of her friend taking his life pushed down. She had started wearing shirts that were a few sizes too big so she could use the long sleeves to hide her hands. She had pulled away from all her social groups, and even stopped going to soccer practice. She gave a halfhearted chuckle as she flexed her fingers, in spots she swore she could see the muscle. She pulled a tube of antibiotic ointment and a couple sealed packs of sterile gauze she had stolen from the nurse's office out of her pocket. Screwing the lid off the ointment squeezed a dollop onto the bloody knuckles of her right hand, tearing open the gauze packet, she used the gauze to smear the ointment over her raw knuckles, then wrapped her hand with the gauze. She then did the same process for her left hand.

Once she was finished wrapping her hands, Lightning Dust screwed the cap back on the tube of ointment and stuffed it back into her pocket. She gathered up the bloody gauze and the empty gauze packets. Walking to the trashcan, she stuffed the bloody gauze and the empty packets down inside so nobody would accidentally see them. Pulling her overlong sleeves down over her hands, she loitered in the restroom awaiting the final bell so that she could disappear into the crowd and slip out of the school. The phone in her pocket chirped, it was probably Rainbow Dash, or Spitfire, or someone else from the soccer team texting her. She didn't bother to pull it out to even see who it was, in fact she had stopped answering texts all together. She didn't know why she kept her phone.

*bbbbrrrrriiiiinnnnngggggg*

The final bell rang and students filled the hallway. Lightning Dust slipped out of the restroom and into the crowd. Outside Cozy Glow was already waiting for her.

Lightning Dust sauntered through the parking lot. She set out on her winding path back home. Cozy Glow walked up beside her.

"Beat it, kid."

Cozy Glow put on the vulnerable routine. "Daddy's working out of town and mamma's car broke down."

"Don't see how that's my problem."

"I gotta walk home all by myself, and I don't wanna walk alone. It's scary walking home alone."

"Why don't you get one of your friend's parents to drive you home?"

"They all live far away on the other side of town and b'sides, they've got things they've gotta be at."

"So take the bus."

"I don't got no money."

"So what do ya want me to do?"

"Walk with me to my house. I only live a few blocks away from you."

"No."

Cozy Glow applied the puppy dog eyes and pouty lip. "Pleeeeeeeaaaaaassssse?"

Lightning Dust crumbled before the ultimate weapon of every little kid."Rrrrr! Fine! Keep up. You fall behind, I'll leave your narrow ass behind. Hope you don't wind up on a milk carton."

Cozy Glow gave an innocent-looking smile, but her eyes glinted with malicious glee. Hook, line, and sinker. She reached into her dress' pocket where her phone was. The Specter app was running, she gave the screen a tap to signal the two operatives posing as her parents that she was on the way with the quarry. She passed her thumb over the switchblade in her pocket. Her phone vibrated signaling that they'd received the message.

As Cozy Glow walked a little ahead of her, Lightning Dust noticed that there was an increasing number of empty lots. "Hey, uh...kid? Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Yep!", Cozy Glow chirped over her shoulder. "This is a shortcut. We'll be there before you know it."

Lightning Dust looked around at the increasingly desolate area. "Uh...if ya say so kid." How many times has she walked this way before? This is the perfect area for some pedo to snatch someone.

After twenty more minutes of walking, Cozy Glow decided that this was the perfect place to capture her prey. She reached into her pocket and double taped the screen on her, signaling her fellow agents to initiate the snatch-and-grab. She intentionally stumbled and fell to the ground. "Ow! Ow! Owie!"

Lightning Dust rushed up to Cozy Glow and knelt down. "You okay?"

Cozy Glow wiped the back of her arm across her nose as she fake sniffled. "My-my ankle hurts!"

"Did you twist it?"

"I *sniff* I don't know.", Cozy Glow said with a fake whimper.

Lightning Dust checked over Cozy Glow's ankle. "There doesn't seem to be any swelling. Let's get you up and see if you can put any weight on it."

As Lightning Dust pulled Cozy Glow up to her feet, a plain white windowless van pulled up. When Lightning turned to face the van, Cozy kicked the girl in the back of her knee, making it buckle.

"What are y--ack!", Lightning Dust tried to say, but a pair of arms wrapped around her neck, locking her in a choke hold and cutting her words off.

Lightning Dust struggled in the choke hold and began working on prying Cozy Glow's arm from around her neck. Cozy Glow moved one arm away from the struggling teen's neck. Lightning Dust began working on prying what she thought was a twelve year old girl's arm from her neck as she worked to plant her feet under her.

*snick*

Lightning Dust's blood ran cold when she saw the silvery gleam of the stiletto jackknife's narrow blade's point pointing at the corner of her right eye.

"Don't you struggle too much,little girl.", Cozy Glow said in a voice that was too mature for her petite body and apparent-looking youth. "I'd hate to have to carve up such spirited potential."

A shudder went down Lightning Dust's spine.

The rear doors of the white van flew open and Back-stab jumped out, wearing black sweat pants, an oversized black hoodie and a black balaklava. He pulled a syringe from inside his hoodie pocket, popped the cover off the needle, thumped the side of the syringe filled with a brownish clear and pushed the plunger in slightly, pushing the air bubbles out, along with a small portion of the liquid.

Lightning Dust's eyes became pinpricks at the sight of the syringe. Oh no! I'm about to be kidnapped and sold off like in the movie 'Took'! She began her struggle anew in earnest.

"Ah-ah-ah!", Cozy scolded as she pressed the point of the switchblade against the side of Lightning's neck. "You just calm down. One little pinch and it'll be bedy-bye time!"

Back-stab grabbed Lightning Dust's wrist, pulling the struggling girl's arm straight and shoved the needle into a vein in the crook of her elbow.

Lightning felt the stinging pinch of the needle as it pierced the vein in the crook of her elbow. It felt like freezing fire in her veins as the drug rushed thin. After several seconds her arm felt cold as she lost feeling in it. She felt dizzy and grey static filled the edges of her vision.

Cozy Glow let go of Lightning Dust, folded up the switchblade and stuck it in her dress pocket.

Lightning Dust tried to get up, but her arms and legs could only flop like they were wet noodles. "Bluh." She tried to speak, tried to yell for help, but only a single nonsensical sound came out with drool. Her vision filled with grey static. She felt so heavy, so sleepy. Darkness.

Back-stab zip-tied Lightning Dust's ankles together, zip-tied her wrists behind her back and slipped a heavy black bag over her head. He lifted the drugged, unconscious girl off the ground and carried her into the back of the white van. Cozy Glow stepped in behind him and pulled the doors shut. The van pulled calmly away.

***

Lightning Dust awoke to a sharp pinching sensation in her arm, followed by a warm, spreading sensation through her veins. When she tried to pull away, there was a sharp biting sensation at her wrist. Blinking the blurriness from her eyes, she looked around. She was sitting in a wooden chair, her wrists were held by some strange white bands to the arms. Looking around, she saw she was in a small grey room. "Wha..."

"Don't try to speak just yet.", A woman said as she walked over. Lightning Dust recognized her as Cozy Glow's mother. The woman pulled a penlight from a pocket and began shining it into the teen's eyes. "Just sit there and be still. Let the counter agent do its work. I know you're scared, but once this is over, you'll remember having a fun time raising hell all over town with some bad girls." The woman began moving the penlight around. "Alright, just follow this with your eyes and let me know if you experience any lightheartedness or nausea."

"P-please don't hurt me!", Lightning Dust whimpered as tears welled up in her eyes. "J-just let me go! I pr-promise I won't say anything! I-I want to see my mamma! I want daddy!"

"Shh! It's okay, dearie.", the woman said as she patted Lightning Dust on the shoulder. "We know you won't say anything. Like I said, when we're through, this weekend will just be a memory of you drinking and doing drugs with some bad girls. Now just sit back and relax. It'll make things go easier. Okay?"

Tears and snot ran down Lightning Dust's face. "Mm-hmm!", she whimpered between sobs.

Underhand stood up from where she was examining Lightning Dust and walked over to Cozy Glow and Back-stab. "She's recovered enough from the sedative. Other than being scared out of her wits, she's ready to begin."

Underhand began applying electrodes to Lightning Dust's head. Back-stab wrapped a pair of black rubber bands around the girl's head, above and below her eyes, and attached two pairs of blunt copper hooks above and below her eyes. He then slipped the blunt copper hooks under her eyelids and adjusted the straps so she couldn't close her eyes.

Lightning Dust's heart pounded in her chest as she began to hyperventilate. This is just like that scene in 'A Steampunk Apple'! "Wh-what's going on? What are you doing to me?"

Cozy Glow walked over holding a bottle of saline solution and patted Lightning Dust on the cheek. "Just the first step in your reprogramming."

Underhand placed sound cancelling headphones over Lightning Dust's ears as Back-stab set up projector screens in a semicircle in front of the girl. Projectors began playing on the screens images of patterns of swirling colors as strange, distorted music began playing through the headphones. Cozy Glow would occasionally squirt some of the saline solution into Lightning Dust's eyes to keep them from drying out. Occasionally the images on the screens would flicker and the patterns would change, not giving the girl's mind a chance to adapt.

After two hours, two small LED lights were attached to the blunt hooks keeping Lightning's eyes open and they began strobing in odd patterns into each eye.

***4 HOURS LATER***

Underhand looked at the EEG reading on the computer screen. "She's ready for phase two."

The projectors were switched off. The strobing LED lights, blunt hooks and head straps were removed from Lightning Dust. The headphones were left on her head. The girl slumped listlessly in the chair.

An IV stand was wheeled up next to Lightning Dust. A bag of saline solution was hung from the IV stand, a tube was hooked to the bag and a small needle, the needle was then pushed into a vein in the crook of her elbow.

Underhand pulled back a headphone from Lightning Dust's ear. "If you feel like you need to go to the bathroom, just let it go. No one here will judge you." She placed the headphone back.

A VR headset was placed on Lightning Dust's head. A cocktail of uppers and adrenaline boosters mixed with a mild psychotropic compound were injected into the saline solution bag to keep her awake and to make her mind more malleable. Once it became clear that the drugs were starting to take effect, the VR display was flipped down and turned on. Flickering, colored light could be seen at the edge of the display. White noise and distorted voices played through the headphones.

Lightning Dust's eyes danced across the VR display as her hypnotized and drug-addled mind tried to make sense of everything. Bizarre images flickered across the display in two-dee and three-dee, interspersed with strobic imagery and subliminal messages.

Every two hours a new bag of saline solution was hung on the IV stand, attached to the tube hooked into Lightning's vein and more of the cocktail injected.

***12 HOURS LATER***

Lightning Dust was a mess. The cocktail of uppers, adrenaline boosters and the psychotropic compound made it so that she didn't know what was going on. Her whole world was a chaotic mess of distorted voices, white noise and bizarre strobing imagery. In her pants and on the wooden chair was a dark, drying stain that reeked of ammonia and uric acid.

Cozy Glow, Underhand and Back-stab had spent the last four hours slurping coffee and popping caffeine pills. Underhand looked at the EEG readout on the screen."Alright, she's ready for interrogation."

Cozy Glow hooked up a microphone to the computer. She checked the levels on the mic. "We'll give her a minute to adjust before I start asking her questions." She clicked a program on the computer.

Lightning Dust slumped back in the chair as the sound of gently blowing wind, accompanied by chirping birds played over the head phones and the image of a gently rolling meadow was projected over the VR display.

Cozy Glow moved the mic up to her mouth. "Lightning Dust, what happened on the night of the night of September the twentieth?"

"Fire. Angry eyes. Demon. Bright coiling rainbow. Pony girls.", the teen droned.

"She's completely off her tits. Nothing we get off of her will make any sense.", Back-stab said.

Cozy Glow covered the mic. "Several eyewitnesses said they saw girls with pony ears, demons and a bright coiling rainbow." She uncovered the mic. "Where did the demon, pony girls and the rainbow come from?"

"Sunset Shimmer stole a crown from pony princess....ha-ha-ha-ha! That kinda rhymes! Pony princess!"

"Focus, Lightning. Where did Sunset steal the crown from?"

"The statue of the Wonder Colt."

"What is the name of the princess?"

"Twilight Sparkle."

Cozy Glow gestured at Back-stab, who pulled out a laptop and began furiously typing away. "What happened when Sunset Shimmer got that crown."

"Sunset Shimmer became demon. Tore down front of school. Made us all into demons. Twilight and friends became pony girls. Shot rainbow at her. She cry. Cry. Cry."

The EEG lines on the computer screen began to spike wildly. Red lights began blinking on the screen.

"Oh shit!", Underhand shouted as she snatched up a syringe from the table.

"Short Fuse! Nooooooo! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Breathe! Look at me! Don't go away! Nonononononononono!" Lightning Dust flailed and struggled in her restraints as tears poured from under the VR display.

Underhand plunged the needle on the syringe into the flailing teen's neck. Within minutes the girl settled down and slumped in the chair. "Let's give her a few hours to rest. Obviously something triggered a traumatic memory.", she said as she withdrew the needle from Lightning Dust's neck and held a cotton ball over the wound. "And hope she didn't give herself a full-on psychotic regression. No amount of anti-drug PSAs would explain away a healthy teenager being turned into a drooling, gibbering, mostly grown infant shell over the course of a couple of days."

"That's fine. I'll need to compile the data from her brain readings, combine them with the recordings and send them off to the labs for the boys to pick over.", Cozy Glow said. "Unless I've missed my mark, we may have proof that a parallel universe exists. Number One will be pleased. And you know what that means? Sitting on a white sandy, tropical beach, being served frozen, rum-based drinks for the rest of our lives!"

Lightning Dust was given four hours of rest before she was given a new round of the cocktail. Her post-hypnotic programming was started. Over the next eight hours subliminal messages were intertwined with distorted music, swirling colorful patterns and brightly flashing images. The activation phrase "Sunset Shimmer is your best friend" was programmed into her head.

Once the last of the programming was finished, the VR headset and headphones were removed from Lightning Dust. The restraints holding her to the chair were removed and she slumped forward.

Underhand caught the teen. "Lightning, honey. Can you tell me where you got the drugs from?"

"Dunno. Went out to hang with Gilda and Spitfire. Met some of the Preppies. Had a fight. Lost my friends. Met a cool chick who gave me beer. Made me feel weird.", the teen replied robotically.

"Good!", Underhand praised. "Come on now! We're gonna take you to the ER."

Underhand slung the girl's arm across her shoulder and lifted her up to her feet. Grabbing three syringes off the nearby table, she trundled up the stairs with the out-of-it girl in tow.

"Tell me you've got something on Twilight Sparkle.", Cozy Glow said to Back-stab.

"There is a Twilight Sparkle enrolled at Crystal Preparatory Academy. Enrolled there two years ago. All her scores place her IQ in the top three percent in the world. The girl's a certified genius. Has an understanding of theoretical and hypothetical physics, like an almost instinctual understanding of the subjects. She could be the one to figure out a unified field theory. Her psych eval shows her having moderate-to-severe neurosis, mild-to-moderate social phobias, anti-social personality disorder, a near-crippling fear of failure, and an odd phobia of...quesadillas."

Cozy Glow taped a knuckle to her lips in thought. "I'm sensing a 'but' here."

Back-stab taped a few buttons on the computer. "On September eighteenth through the twentieth, a girl matching her description was seen on campus at Canterlot High School by eyewitnesses. According to photos you snapped in the school, she was crowned the Fall Formal Queen." He pulled up the images of both girls on the screen.

Cozy Glow pointed to the picture of the Twilight from the Fall Formal. "That's not the same girl from Crystal Prep. This girl is older, by at least a couple of years...and taller." She tented her fingers. "Unless Twilight Sparkle of Crystal Praparatory Academy has a near-identical twin, I think we've just found photographic proof of a parallel universe."

Underhand shoved Lightning Dust into the front passenger seat of the powder blue hatchback with swapped plated sitting in the garage, then walked around and stepped into the driver's seat. She held up the three syringes, looking them over and jammed them one after the other in Lightning's upper arm. She then pulled out a full head rubber mask, a grey wig and a pair of fake glasses. Looking in the mirror, she shrugged at the image that made her look passable enough as an old lady.

"Funny mashk! Phbbbbbbt!", Lightning Dust slurred before slumping against the window and groaning. "Were-were-were-were you the one who gave me the beer, white powder and blue footballs that made me feel good and funny?"

"No, honey. I found you passed out in the park. Remember?"

"Ah, yes. 'Member! I 'member! Cool chick gave me beer."

Underhand rolled her eyes behind the mask. She's really off her tits. Let's hope the worst of the OD symptoms don't kick in before I make it to the hospital and she pukes in the car.

Underhand pulled up to the hospital, drove up to the emergency room entrance, opened the passenger side door and shoved Lightning Dust out onto the concrete. She laid on the horn for a couple of seconds, stomped on the gas and sped away, the tires leaving a cloud of white smoke behind. After pulling away from the hospital, she merged into traffic and disappeared into the night.

After driving halfway across town, Underhand pulled the car to a stop outside a bar frequented by frat boys, wiped the interior down to remove as many of her fingerprints as possible and stepped out of the car. She tossed the keys to a group of frat boys leering lustfully at passing girls and said through the mask,"It's my ex-husband's. Have fun boys." As the frat boys whooped and shouted as they piled into the car, she slipped into the crowd. After walking a couple of blocks, she took off the mask, wig and fake glasses, and tossed them into a dumpster. She stepped to the corner and stretched out her hand. "Taxi!"

It was the Monday morning before the first bell at CHS. The intercom came on with a squeal of feedback and Principal Celestia's voice spoke. "Would Gilda T Griffon and Spitfire Peggy Asus report to the principal's office, please?"

Gilda and Spitfire walked to Principal Celestia's door. They noticed the cop cars sitting out front.

"You know what's going on, Gil?"

"No clue, Spits."

"Don't tell anybody my middle name, or I'll kick your ass."

"Sure thing, Peggy."

"Grr!"

Spitfire and Gilda stepped in through the door to the principal's office. They immediately noticed the two cops standing there.

"Uh...you called for us, Principal Celestia?", Spitfire asked.

"Ah, yes. Officer...Figpucker?"

The police officer in question cleared his throat. "Last night at about one in the morning, someone dropped off..." He paused to look at his notes before continuing. "Lightning Dust at the Emergency room. She had overdosed on a combination of cocaine and Xanax. This morning when she was stable enough to talk to us, she said that she had been hanging out with you two last night, ran into a couple of girls from Crystal Preparatory School, got into a fight. In the ensuing scuffle--"

"Officer Figpucker, maybe you should let me ask them the questions.", Sergeant Shining Armor interrupted.

FigPucker turned to Shining. "Shiny, I thought you agreed to let me question the kids.", he whispered hoarsely.

"I know, Figgy. But my sister is about the same age as them. You gotta know how to talk to teenagers.", Shining Armor whispered back. "The Starswirl Music Festival is coming up in a few weeks. I'll swap shifts with you for that so you can go see that girl of yours, and ya know, give some of that Figgy Pudding."

Figpucker blew out a sigh. "Fine! I'll let you question the two girls...and you promised you wouldn't use Figgy pudding any more."

Shining snickered as he stepped over to the two girls."Uh...Spitfire and Gilda, right? When was the last time you two saw Lightning Dust?"

"Nobody's talked to Lightning in over a week. She stopped coming to practice, stopped answering everyone's texts.", Spitfire said.

"I haven't seen her since lit class on Friday.", Gilda said. She held up her hands, showing the backs of them to Shinning Armor. "Look at my knuckles. They ain't swollen or nuthin'. Don't'cha think that if I had kicked the shit outa some preppie richy bitches, my knuckles would be scuffed up?" She then flexed her arms. "Besides, If I did kick the asses of some rich girls...I mean, come on!...look at these guns! You'd still be scraping them off of the road. If those preppie bitches gave her the drugs, I swear I'm gonna force feed'em their teeth!" She pounded her fist into her palm for effect.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Easy now!", Shining exclaimed as he held his hand up. "Nobody said anything about anyone from Crystal Prep giving her drugs. Lightning Dust said she had been hanging out with you two, got into a fight with a couple of girls from Crystal Prep, got separated from you two and ran into someone who gave her the drugs. She was still kinda out of it when she talked to us, so she could be misremembering things." He pulled a couple of business cards from his shirt pocket. "If either of you two remember her talking about going to meet anyone or hear someone talking about giving her drugs, call me."

That will be all, Miss Griffon, Miss Asus.", Principal Celestia said. "If you talk to Miss Inkwell on your way out, she'll write you both hall passes."

After Gilda and Spitfire left, Celestia turned to the two police. "Thank you officers Armor and Fig...pucker." It took everything she had to not accidentally say anything vulgar. "If I see or hear anything, I'll let you two know."

Author's Note

I decided not to do any chapters on Anon-a-Miss. Instead Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, with a little goading from Cozy Glow, created Gabby Gums.

The three agents of Specter capture Lightning Dust, hypnotize, drug and program her into being an unwitting sleeper agent for them.

And the Dazzlings are looming on the horizon.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy.

Spot any typos, misspellings, misused or missing punctuation, or any weird sentence issues? Have any comments or questions? Wanna throw shade or pure bane? Leave them down below.

And once again, thank you all for reading.