Sombra.
That name was familiar. Magical Girl Sunny had heard that name before, but couldn't put a finger on it. Was it something she had heard from the other Sunset? Was it something from the news? She couldn't remember, but she had a nagging feeling that it was a very important name. And a very, VERY dangerous name. Not that she needed any more reasons to fear and hate him any more.
"Okay," Sunset said after a while "what do you want from me?"
Sombra looked at her for a moment. "That's it?" He asked through the microphone and PA system. "I was hoping for a better reaction."
Sunset tilted her head. "What?"
"Nothing, nevermind that," he shook his head and went back to his cheerfully smug self "to answer your question, I wanted to meet up, face to face. And have a little chat."
She crossed her arms. "About what?"
He kept his distance and kept talking through the microphone. "For starters, how about celebrating meeting another person with powers! For the longest time I thought I was the only one out there! Until I found a video about a certain magical superhero in Canterlot," he sighed "after I spent the last few years of my life hiding in the shadows, literally."
"You want revenge for blowing your cover?"
He shrugged. "You didn't do it on purpose, so I won't hold a grudge. It gave me an excuse to travel here and meet up with you in person."
Sunset's eyebrow twitched. "You came to say hi by attacking my school?"
"It sounds pretty bad when you put it that way..."
"You. Kidnapped. COCO!"
"How many times do I have to correct you, she went of her own free, if a little reluctant, will. Admittedly, I can be a bit intimidating. I will release her, but not until you hear me out. Shame if something were to happen to someone who designed your outfits. I especially love that they match so well with your earrings. It's quite a unique design."
She withheld her rage and managed to limit her emotional outburst to just a massive stink eye.
"Talk." She said through her teeth. While she didn't want to take her eyes off of him, she made sure to observe her surroundings carefully. It was dark everywhere she looked, the only source of light centered at the stage where the two of them talked. She wasn't sure if there weren't any other people inside or if she just didn't see them.
Sombra shook his head. "I imagined this scene to be a little less awkward" he commented quietly, though he was still easily heard due to the microphone he kept holding. "...but oh well, what can you do?"
He coughed.
"I tried very hard to keep a low profile, you know. Stay in the darkness, use my powers secretly, not get attached to a place or people, not get discovered by anyone, you know the drill. Where I come from, friendship isn't a thing, really. The strong use the weak as disposable tools, and the weak either give up and submit or plot long enough to overthrow them and take their place. The cycle repeats. Last time I openly talked with anyone about my powers, I almost ended up dead. I learned to be very, VERY careful around people. Especially the nice and altruistic ones."
Sunny's eyes narrowed even further. "So you took the entire school hostage?"
Sombra nodded cheerfully. "I needed to keep you in check somehow. And to test you."
"Test what?"
"To see who you really are, away from the camera lens and the audience, on your home turf. When the mask if off, figuratively." He stopped on his tracks and sighed. "Look, I rehearsed this conversation many times in my head and I still can't help but ramble. Seeing as you're losing your patience, I'll cut straight to the chase," he extended his hand toward her "what do you say we work together?"
Everything fell silent. The static from the speakers was the only other sound that could be heard at the moment.
Magical Girl Sunny blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"
He nodded. "Let's team-up, as the world's first and only super-powered duo."
Sunny's expression slowly turned from furiously scared to profoundly confused. "No, seriously, what?"
Sombra rolled his eyes. "I'm dead serious! Just think what the two of us could do if we combine our powers! You saw a little demonstration of my powers and we both know what you're capable of, though I'm probably unaware of some of your other tricks. But as I've proven today, you can't do everything on your own and you have weak spots that could be exploited. Look at it from this point: if you and I exist and have powers like some mythical demi-gods, then what else is there?"
Sirens, she-demons, unicorns, parallel reality doppelgangers, a talking dog... Sunny named a few inside her head. He doesn't know about any of them! And I sure as hell won't be the one to enlighten him!
"I can be reasoned with, hence why we're having this conversation to begin with. But the others who could appear in the near or far future? I wouldn't guarantee it. They didn't show themselves yet, so either we're the only ones out there, or they're like me, staying out of the limelight, waiting for a good moment to strike, when you're at your weakest. But with our powers combined, we could be unstoppable!"
"And do what? Rule the world?"
Sombra snorted. "Come on, don't be preposterous! You're skipping a few important steps on the way, but eventually, why not? Who could stop us? It would be nice if we could bring forth a new era, just you and I..."
She crossed her arms. "Lemme guess: as king and queen?"
"Pfft, hahaha!" He laughed. "I was going to say 'equals', but sure. Just to be clear, those were your words, not mine."
Sunset blinked. She looked at the super-powered kid, slightly younger than herself, in front of her and tried to answer one simple question. Is he for real? Is this a trick, or does he actually believe that I would ever... She shook her head. No, stay focused! There is a way out of this.
"Okay," Sunset started "what about the hostages?"
He shrugged. "I'll release them all."
She blinked. "You will?"
"Sure, why not. To be perfectly honest, this was all just a show of power. Not just the magical power, but an overall demonstration of what I'm capable of. How many people can gather a bunch of trained, armed men and coordinate them into taking a school for the rich and genius hostage, while keeping the one superhero they couldn't deal with at bay? And I didn't even have to pay a dime, they all agreed to do it for free, if it meant having you out of the picture. Now, whether I keep my end of the bargain is another thing. And I did all of that in less than a week!"
Sunset swallowed. I hate to agree with him, but that is scary impressive! But this is fine, I can still turn it around!
Sunset forced a smile. "Heh, you got me there," she said "I... I'm not sure what to say. Like, wow." She scratched the back of her head.
Fake it, Shimmer! Coco and the others are counting on you! Until they're safe, I need to keep convincing this psycho we're on the same page!
"I can see where you're coming from," she kept forcing the smile "you make a lot of good points and true, those Shadowcats of yours, they're quite something alright."
Sombra scratched his head. "Nah, they're nothing really. You took them out easily."
"Y-yeah, I did. I don't know how I feel about, ehem, being attacked, in broad daylight, or you taking away my... my best friend..." she swallowed "but yeah, a team-up sounds like a sensible idea."
Pause.
Sombra blinked. "You do?"
"Yeah. I mean, if you wanted to just kill me, you would've already done it."
"That's true. Not that I want to."
"So if I'm torn between waging a war or being allies with you, then I guess I'd rather be on the winning side." She added a smile that felt somewhat genuine, if only because her definition of 'winning side' wasn't necessarily the same.
And from the looks of it, it worked, as Sombra smiled widely. "Huh, neat! That went a lot smoother than I expected! And here I thought you'd be defying me for much longer!"
"W-why would I waste energy on that?" She asked, shrugging while holding herself from vomiting mentally.
Sombra laughed. "I don't know. Because you seemed like you were quite concerned with the safety of all the hostages, not just Miss Pommel. Almost as if all of those altruistic heroics were genuine!"
A few beads of sweat fell from her forehead. "Pfft, why would I care about anyone here? They're all a bunch of jerks anyway," I'm sorry, Indigo and other Sunny! "except Coco, I mean. I grew quite fond of her, not to mention she's very useful with the costume department!"
He nodded. "Yes, she's a precious little thing!"
She tried to hide her tightened fists behind her back and distract him with a wide smile. I will break your face for EVER getting near her!
"Defiant, but not unreasonable. And she has a good taste in people."
And every bone in your body, one for each student that suffered today!
"In case you're wondering, she's hidden somewhere in the school, guarded by one of my men. Unharmed. I will have her released in a moment."
Oh, and a few extra hits for every teacher, janitor, secretary, lunch lady and whoever else works here!
"You don't mind if I keep the other hostages for a little longer?"
Her eyebrow twitched. "You were supposed to release them too!"
"Yeah, but I kinda promised my boys that I'll get rid of you AND they'll get the ransom money from the rich parents and I'd like to keep at least one of the promises I made."
Her eyebrow twitched again. She took a deep breath. "N-no, no problem. Not at all!" I will backstab you before you get a single penny!
"Good. That should put them at ease a little bi--"
"TRAITOR!"
Sunny almost jumped when an armed man in a balaclava screamed at Sombra. He stood at the door where Sunny herself entered, holding an assault rifle up, except he wasn't aiming at her. Sombra didn't seem bothered by it, as he didn't even acknowledge the man's existence at this point.
"I KNEW WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TRUSTED YOU!" He screamed again.
Sombra let out a long sigh. "Go away," he said through his microphone, never once turning in his direction "can't you see I'm busy?"
"I KNEW WE SHOULD'VE TAKEN YOU OUT WHEN WE HAD A CHANCE!"
Sombra exploded with laughter. "Pffft, can you believe that guy? He thinks he can take me on. That's cute."
Sunny swallowed. The guy was far away, wearing dark clothes and only illuminated by the halogen lights from the hallway outside, but he seemed like a tough, army type of guy. She met a few of those types before, most were ex-marines that joined organized crime after getting discharged. By far the best trained and equipped of the foes she met until today. Still no match for actual magical powers, but no pushovers either.
"HEY, DON'T IGNORE ME, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-UGH!"
He suddenly stopped talking and dropped his gun to hold onto the shadow tendrils that rose from the ground and grabbed him by his neck. Sunny observed in terror as the terrorist was slowly lifted above the ground, his legs wobbling in the air trying to find any surface to hold onto, while his hands held firmly on the tendril crushing neck.
"I don't think I made myself clear before," Sombra said calmly "when I made this plan, I explicitly said that I call the shots. ALL of them. And if one of them is a change of plans because I felt like it, then it's YOUR problem, not mine!"
The shadow tendril suddenly evaporated, dropping the man on his back. He coughed a few times, attempting to compose himself from the ground.
"Now get back to your post before I get angry. And pray that I forget what your name is!"
As ordered, the man scrambled on his fours, grabbed his rifle and hurried outside, loudly shutting the doors behind him.
Sombra lowered his head and touched the top of his nose, letting out a long, exhausted sigh.
"See who I have to deal with? I swear, I work with idio-"
SMASH!
He didn't get to finish the sentence when a sudden, lightning fast fist enveloped with fire struck him right in the face, sending him flying back!
While Sombra was having a 'conversation' with one of his minions, Sunny had some time to think her next move. She wanted to play the long game, but she didn't trust her own acting skills. She was sure she'd mess something up along the way, blurt out something that would incriminate her and ruin everything. Was striking him with her fastest, strongest attack she had, while he was distracted for a second or two, a reckless plan? That goes without saying.
But she gave it some thought and came up with a few conclusions:
One; she knew very little about Sombra's powers, but if they worked anything like the magic she knew about, all of its effects would wear off as soon as the caster was out cold. Shadowcats, those weird tendrils that may or may not hold the students, all of it would be gone and dealt with.
Two; he didn't seem like someone who could take a hit directly. If magic was all he had to offer, then striking him when he wasn't ready was the only option, as she was pretty sure he had tricks up his sleeve in case he had to fight directly. He said so himself- they weren't that different and she was at her most vulnerable state when taken unaware.
Three; with Sombra gone, the armed terrorists was all she had to care about. And she had dealt with those guys plenty of times. They knew they couldn't hurt any of the hostages, or they'd be lucky if they spent rest of their lives on a wheelchair, drinking food with a straw. And if she was extra lucky, they might just give up and save themselves the trouble for a shorter jail time. She was even ready to negotiate a complete amnesty if they just up and left. As long as everyone was safe and this nightmare was over, she was willing to compromise.
She observed Sombra falling on the ground, with the microphone he dropped reaching the ground a fraction of a second before him. A mic drop, how fitting, she thought, as an honest smile almost crept onto her face. Except when the microphone reached the ground, instead of bouncing back and making a static noise, it disappeared. In shadows. And so did Sombra.
She stared at the cloud of dark dust left where her opponent should've landed. She blinked several times, hoping any of those proved to be an exhaustion induced image from her imagination. It wasn't. Her heart beats slowed down. Sweat started pouring from her shaking body. She almost choked on the huge lump that grew in her throat.
Oh no...
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
NO!
"Oh Sunny. Sunny, Sunny, Sunny. My sweet summer child."
She looked around in all directions. While she could hear his voice via the PA system, he was nowhere to be seen.
"I knew this was going to happen. Deep inside, I knew you wouldn't accept me."
Even though she was sure he was nowhere near her, she couldn't help but frantically look around anyway, hoping he was nearby and she still had a shot.
"But you can't blame me for trying, now can you? I was serious about everything I said. We would've made a great team. But you just couldn't help yourself. You just had to hurt me. Right there, in the heart. And it really hurts."
Her breathing went from 'almost non-existent' to 'pounding like a bulldozer' in a span of seconds. She didn't know what to do, other than stand where she was and listen. And panic.
His gimmick is shadows, OF COURSE he could copy himself!
"I really didn't want to do this, but unlike me, you gave me no choice."
She swallowed, waiting impatiently for events to unfold, having a blank mind devoid of any ideas. She knew she had messed up and was about to face the consequences. From a psychotic kid with shadow powers. Who felt betrayed. She looked around, ready for whatever to jump out at her, be it a shadowcat army, a bunch of tentacles or whatever else he was able to do. She waited, carefully looking around herself, staying in the spotlight, because any darkness and all the shadows were literally potential enemies. No attacks came, but someone else did appear.
She noticed someone coming from the shadows, slowly walking toward her. She braced herself and readied to attack, but as the figure revealed itself, her heart skipped a beat. It was Coco! She stumbled out of the shadows, her legs shaking as she trudged forward, her arms holding her body as if she was freezing. She was looking around the stage in every direction, except at Sunny.
"COCO!" Sunny yelled at her friend, who didn't seem to notice her. She threw her arm forward and started walking toward her friend. She must've escaped somehow! I need to get her to safety, before Sombra gets to her! I must save her, no matter what!
She was getting closer and closer to her friend, ready to teleport her as far away from the school as possible. She wanted to speak to her, more than ever before. She wanted to hug her, cry on her shoulders, but that could wait! I must save her!
She was about to touch her, when a huge, bloody black spike emerged from Coco's chest!
Her mouth and eyes shot wide open, but no sound came. She shook slightly for an everlastingly short moment, before her hands and head stopped moving and limped down. Sunset froze, her hand was now only inches away from her best friend's corpse's head, looking away with still open, dead eyes. Behind her was Sombra, with his wide open eyes filled with madness, with a matching slasher smile. His arm was transformed into a long, bloody black spike.
Sunset's brain, body, and entire reality stopped. She opened her mouth and wanted to scream, but struggled to breathe, let alone make sounds while hyperventilating from shock. But before she recovered, just as she was about to touch Coco's dead head, her body evaporated into dark mist, along with Sombra behind her, leaving only a painful memory behind.
She fell on her knees. Painful didn't even begin to describe how she felt right now, seeing her friend dead for even a second. The relief she felt when it turned out to be just an illusion didn't do all that much to stop her from shaking. If anything, it made her feel even worse, knowing what she was up against.
"I think the message I sent was quite clear," Sombra's voice once again said through the PA system "now then, let's get down to business. I have something special planned for..."
Magical Girl Sunny disappeared.
"...you. Uh, hello? Sunny? Heee Ellooo?"
The real Sombra sat before a computer monitor, clicking through one camera feed to another, his target nowhere to be seen. He let out a long, tired sigh and leaned comfortably on the leather chair.
"Oh well, I can wait. She'll be back, right, Miss Pommel?"
In the corner of the office, there was Coco Pommel sitting on a chair, a few feet away from her kidnapper. She wasn't tied up or restrained in any way. She was told to sit down and not cause any trouble with the unspoken, but quite obvious, hint that if she were to do something weird, someone would be severely punished for it. Not necessarily her.
She swallowed and sat on her chair, her hands squeezing the skirt on her knees as she breathed slowly. Waiting to be saved. Helpless and useless.
Sunny reappeared in the safest place she could think of: her room. She held herself back for a moment, before collapsing on her knees over her bed. With nobody looking and nothing stopping her, she let out all the tears she held back all this time and screamed into her bedsheets. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was forced to face the fact:
I can't do this! I can't do this!
Once too exhausted to scream, she rose and turned towards Coco's empty bed. She looked at it for a moment, before briefly taking off her mask to wipe her tears. She put it back and frantically looked around her room. She made a mess of her own bed, even more than it was before, went through all the shelves until she found her cell phone in the drawboard next to her bed. In the same place she teleported it everytime she didn't need it.
I can't do this... alone! I need help!
She had never had to fight an evil force with magical powers, but she knew someone who had more experience. The Rainbooms routinely dealt with superpowered individuals and world ending catastrophes, Sombra was nothing against them! This was more in their league. Sure, she was quite good at stopping armed robberies and beating up mobsters that none of the Rainbooms could do anything about, but when push came to shove, they were the ones saving the world. They would save them. They could save her! But as soon as she unlocked her phone she noticed that there was already ten unanswered calls. All coming from a single source: Captain Shining Armor.
She swallowed and quickly called it back. Oh, this can't be good!
She didn't wait long for it to be picked up. "Captain, it's me, what's go-"
"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!" Shining Armor's yell made her pull the phone away from her ear. "I'VE BEEN CALLING YOU FOR ALMOST THIRTY MINUTES!"
"I-I'm sorry, I-I was..."
"DON'T CARE! We need you here right now! The Police Station is under attack!"
Sunny's heart once again froze.
Shining Armor composed himself and resumed talking. "A few dozen armed guys just barged in and started shooting everywhere, we didn't have time to react! I managed to get away unscathed with a few others, but not everyone was this lucky. Some of those who escaped with me are in need of medical attention. I don't think anyone had been killed, but still, my people are held hostage up there. We really need your help!"
He waited for an answer, but nothing came. "Sunny? Hello, can you hea-" he stopped when he heard her first. She wasn't saying anything, not anything comprehensible at least. "Sunny, are you... are you crying?"
She was. She couldn't help herself anymore and there was no hiding it anymore. Everytime she thought it would all work out, another problem came up and she knew Sombra was behind this as well. Everyone knew she was working with local police, of course they were going to be targeted!
"Sunny, I'm sorry I yelled, but we don't have time for-"
"N-no, it's not that!" She said through her tears. "It's... it's all my fault!"
"What? What do you mean your fault? What's going on?"
"It's Sombra... he attacked you because of me!"
There was a pause.
"W-wait, what do you mean Sombra?! THE Sombra!? B-but, it's impossible, he's still in maximum security prison! It would've been in all the news if he escaped!"
"You know him?"
"I heard about him, but I never met the guy. He's behind all this?"
"Y-yes! He attacked the school, be-because I... I... I..." She started crying again, when suddenly.
"SUNNY!"
Captain's yell brought her back to her senses. It was followed by his slightly more gentle tone.
"Calm down, take your time and explain everything."
Despite not seeing him face to face, Sunny still nodded, wiped her face and explained everything, starting from the first appearance of Shadowcats. She forced herself to recollect the part with Coco's shadow clone. It seemed like it took her eternity, but only a few minutes passed when she was done telling everything she knew.
Shining Armor sighed through the phone. "This can't be a coincidence. They planned both attacks to happen at the same time, so neither of us could help each other."
"I-I was going to call the Rainbooms. Maybe Sunset and others can do something about Sombra..."
"I've been trying to call them too, hoping you're with them, but not a single one of them is answering either."
She swallowed. "Y-you don't think..."
"That they're targeted too? I don't think so. I remember Twilight said something about going to a movie with her class, so they had to turn their phones off. Did Sombra mention them at all?"
"No. It's odd, he seemed to know a lot about me, but he never said anything about the other Sunset Shimmer. Or CHS in general."
"Good, let's assume they're safe then. We have a lot on our heads already. And if anyone can take care of themselves, it's those girls."
Sunny sighed. I hope everyone's okay. "Captain, who exactly is Sombra? He seemed surprised I didn't know either. Am I missing something?"
Shining Armor answered after a brief pause. "Well for one, he's not the white haired kid you're dealing with. The one I'm talking about is the most notorious war criminal from the middle south, though most of what we know sounds like an overblown urban legend. They said that everywhere he went, only ruins and death were left behind. The few survivors mentioned something about ghosts, monsters and... and... oh crap, this explains a lot!"
"You said he's in jail?"
"Yeah, I heard that a special ops team found him in one of his safehouses, unarmed, alone, sleeping in his boxers. He didn't resist the arrest and has been sent to prison, where he's been staying last few years. If he broke out, they would've notified me about a bounty of some sort. But still, your description doesn't match him at all. The original Sombra is a tall, strong, middle aged guy, with dark skin and black, waist long hair."
"You think they're connected somehow?"
"Maybe, but that's not important at the moment. What's important is the safety of everyone in the school!"
The school. Sunny couldn't stop sweating over the thought that the last few minutes talking to Shining Armor were the last calm moment she'd be allowed to have before coming back to that nightmare. Except this time it was even worse- she doubted Sombra would let his guard down again, not after the stunt she tried. She just hoped he was more interested in hurting her directly, rather than the rest of the school. She leaned over her desk, which just so happened to be right in front of the window facing the streets. She saw there were crowds of people gathering and watching the school with morbid curiosity, pointing at it and snapping pictures.
Something's not right. She thought.
"Sunny, you still there?" Shining Armor asked.
Sunset opened her window and jumped out, phone still at her ear.
"Yeah, I just need to check..." she bounced off of a magically made invisible platform and landed safely on the lawn. "...something."
She quickly found out why the crowds were this curious and scared, but not enough to just run away. She couldn't see the school anymore- it was covered by a gigantic dome made out of dark matter, like a non-translucent snow globe, with all the buildings, soccer field and part of the parking lot engulfed inside total darkness! Some kids were throwing stones at it, but they just bounced off it harmlessly. Nobody was brave enough to get close enough to touch it, but it didn't stop some people from taking selfies.
"Sunny, what's going on there?"
"I-it's some sort of... huge barrier, all over Crystal Prep! It's all made out of his shadow... his power," she started shaking "h-how the hell did he make this!? He... he... oh god..."
"Sunny, calm down!"
She stepped away. "I-I can't beat him! He's too powerful, there's no way I ca-"
"SUNNY!"
She jumped at the sound of his voice. He wasn't even that loud, but somehow the tone of his voice always put her back to her senses.
Shining Armor sighed, then kept talking with a toned down voice. "Do you want to give up?"
The question pierced her heart hard enough that she couldn't give an answer. The answer wasn't as obvious as she hoped it was.
Shining continued. "Look, I don't know anything about how magic works, so I can't even begin to guess your chances. But still, I have no other choice but to tell you... you have to do this!"
Sunny swallowed. "C-captain, I don't know if I..."
"YOU CAN!"
Once again she jumped at the sudden yell.
"Of c-course you can do it. Y-you are a hero of this city, right?"
Sunny couldn't believe what she just heard. Did he just stutter?
"If you can't, then nobody else can! So, please! There's no one else I can ask..."
She hadn't know Captain Shining Armor for long and even what little interaction she had with him had been very professional. The Captain of Canterlot's Police always struck her as the best person for the job. He didn't take crap from anyone, not from his officers, from a superheroine with powers, nor from the criminals he fought. He was always composed and had no weak spots. Except one.
"Cadence... she's in there, somewhere!"
Dean Cadence. His newly wed wife, just fresh out of honeymoon. Stuck inside the school with magical beasts, armed terrorists and a devil spawn that treated this as a game, as well as her dear students, whom she sworn to protect. To Sunset, she was just another hostage, no more or less valuable than any other living being she promised to protect from harm. But to Shining Armor, she was something else. She was everything to him. That's when she realized something.
The hero she considered strong, dependable, almost indestructible, was just as scared as she was! They've been on the phone for close to fifteen minutes now, but this was the first time he mentioned Cadence's name, but she could tell she was on his mind this entire time. She knew that if he could force his way through the walls, physical and magical alike, he would be the first in line to strike Sombra, by himself, with bare fists if he had to. She knew that feeling all too well. And yet it took him this long to show this so called "weak" part of himself, which he couldn't show to other police officers, who looked up to him and believed in him.
"Captain, I... I..." she started, but had to take a deep breath to finish the sentence "...don't worry, I will save her! I will make sure your wife... that Dean Cadence is safe! You have my word!"
There was a brief pause in their conversation, until he finally said.
"Thank you, Sunny. It means a lot to me."
"Y-yeah. You can count on me. And as soon as I deal with everything here, I promise I'll save you and your peo-!"
"No."
Sunny blinked. "What do you mean-"
"Don't worry about us, Sunny. Concentrate on what's right in front of you. We'll be fine."
"B-but..."
"We took you for granted, which ended up biting us back. Those thugs attacked us on our turf, in broad daylight and succeeded because we grew too lax, knowing there would always be someone watching our backs. If we don't start fighting back ourselves, what message are we sending? We are Canterlot's finest, we can protect this city, as well as ourselves, with or without a magical girl by our side!"
Sunny opened her mouth and tried to argue with that logic, but she couldn't find any arguments that could convince Shining Armor. Or herself. While she was still worried for the life of Coco and everyone else, she wasn't trembling as much as before. She even managed to crack a hopeful smile. She knew Shining Armor could as well.
She looked deeply at the giant dome of darkness that engulfed her school. What awaited her inside was unlike anything she has faced before and she was going to face it alone. No police backup. No Rainbooms. Not even Coco cheering her on from the safety of their shared room. She feared what was inside that building, but not nearly as much as she dreaded the possibility of leaving it behind. She finally found a place where she belonged and she wasn't going to give up without a fight!
"Before you go," Shining Armor suddenly said "I know that as an adult I shouldn't put this much pressure on you, a seventeen year old, but..." he sighed "but the moment you decided to put on your costume was the moment you discarded any excuses to be treated like a child. Like it or not, you're an adult now, Miss Shimmer."
Sunset blinked. Some onlookers started noticing her and walked a little closer, either calling her name or snapping pictures, though none of them came too close or interrupted her conversation. She mustered a genuine smile and showed a peace sign to put them at ease, even if her feelings were mixed at best.
"Some adult I am," she lamented, quietly enough so nobody other than her phone could hear her "I made a lot of stupid mistakes recently."
"Heh, Miss Shimmer... Sunny, want to hear the biggest truth about life? Being an adult doesn't mean you stop making mistakes. It means you make a lot more of them than you ever would. And they affect not just you but those around as well..."
She blinked. "W-what..."
"...and then you take responsibility for them. That's what being an adult truly means."
Sunny opened her mouth, but decided against saying anything. This conversation had dragged on for long enough.
"Captain?"
"Yes?"
"Don't let them get you!"
"Heh, of course! You too, Sunny."
There was no goodbye, no formal or informal end of this conversation, they just hung up at roughly the same time. She had a lot more to talk to him about, in person. But before that, she had some 'responsibilities' to take care of.
Shining Armor sighed deeply as he walked in the middle of the room. The shelter they were stuck had no windows and only a few lightbulbs lighting the place. The shelves around them were filled with food, water, medicine, and tools for a few days for around twenty people. Barely half of those were inside right now, and those that weren't hurt tended to the less lucky ones. He counted only about five, six including himself, that were in working condition, able to walk and use both hands without holding anyone back. They gathered all the firearms they had, which aside from their own sidearms, only counted two rifles, a single shotgun and barely any ammunition for them.
At times like these they were supposed to sit back and wait for help from other cities, but the circumstances were different now.
"Listen up everybody!" He said, catching attention of his fellow officers. "I just talked to Magical Girl Sunny," the sheer sound of her name made their eyes open wide, some hopeful gasps were heard in the middle. He almost hated himself for having to burst the bubble immediately. "...she can't come and help us."
As expected, the reactions were negative. At best they were quietly disappointed and hung their heads down in despair. At worst, they vocalized their fears a little too loudly, some started panicking.
"WE'RE GOING TO DIE HERE!"
"I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
"THIS IS ALL HER FAULT! SHE PROMISED TO PROTE--"
"EVERYBODY, BE QUIET!"
Shining Armor's shout was much stronger than all the others combined. And it did manage to get their attention back. He picked up the lone shotgun and a few shells and started loading it.
"As I speak, Magical Girl Sunny is busy fighting to save everyone at Crystal Prep. It's being attacked by a group of terrorists, likely connected to those that attacked us, except their leader is there, and it's a super powered person! That's why she can't be here."
Another set of murmurs spread around the room.
"Another magical person?"
"Holy crap, a real super villain!"
"Is Sunny going to be okay?"
"Crystal Prep? Isn't that where his wife works?"
Shining Armor continued. "That's why this time, she won't be the one helping us!" He hung the weapon over his shoulder. "Instead, we'll deal with this ourselves! And once we're done, we'll be the ones who will save HER!" He paused to let that sink in, then continued. "We're Canterlot's Police Officers! We trained to be this city's first line of defense against crime and as long as I stand here, I won't let them win! Magical Girl Sunny has been our greatest ally these past few months, she saved our assess on many occasions and made life threatening missions seem like child's play. It's about time we returned the favor and lifted some of the burden off of her!"
His speech was met with mostly mixed feelings. He could see some of his men nod in agreement, but not everyone was convinced.
"B-but how are we going to fight back two dozen guys? There's only a few of us left!" One officer asked.
Shining grabbed the shotgun in both hands and reloaded it. "With guns. And teamwork, and all the tricks we can think of. This is our turf, we know every nook and cranny, time to make use of that knowledge." He noticed not everyone was convinced. He rolled his eyes and used one last trick he knew. "I'll go alone if I have to."
The last sentence was what tipped the balance, as one by one, everyone stood up and cheered for their leader, before going towards the gun pile. Shining Armor couldn't help but smile at his fellow men and women. He couldn't ask for better followers and was determined to lead them all out of it alive!
While his officers were already starting to form the strategy, he went towards one that wasn't joining the raid. Not because he didn't want to.
"Heh, that's some speech there, Cap!" Mithril Shield, his old partner from times before his promotion (also: best friend) admitted, sitting under the wall. "Almost made me jump at your side, but, yeah..." he sighed, looking at his heavily bandaged leg, which only just recently stopped bleeding.
Shining smiled and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know. It's okay, just stay here and rest."
Mithril sighed. "I'm sorry. I ended up being a burden... again."
Shining Armor shook his head. "Don't say that. Just because you can't follow me with a gun doesn't mean you can't help. Do you remember my sister?"
"Twilight? As if I could forget! You can't shut up about he-oh!" He stuttered, as Shining Armor suddenly threw something at him. He barely caught it in both arms. The object was his cellphone.
"Keep calling her and her friends. They're all under "Rainbooms" category. Don't stop until someone answers."
"Uh, sure. No offense, but how is your sister and her friends going to help?"
"With any luck, they won't have to. But just in case, here's exactly what you tell them..."
After landing in the middle of the main hall, Sunny stood still and looked at the two security cameras watching the front entrance. Showing herself like that would've been otherwise stupid, but at this point she was in no place to sneak around and risk everyone's safety. Not when every single shadow could be looking at her. She had tried to play against the rules once and the wounds were still fresh in her heart and mind.
"SOMBRA!" She shouted towards the camera.
She waited for a moment, breathing heavily, hoping her longer absence didn't bring about some unforeseen consequences. He went through a lot of trouble to arrange everything, there was no way he was going to just change his mind.
"Ah, welcome back, Sunny," he said through the PA system "for a moment I was worried you had left for good. Actually, I lied, I knew you would come back to save your precious friend. Or to exact revenge on me. Or both. But since you're here, what do you say we play a little game?"
Sunny swallowed, but nodded, ready to accept the one-sided challenge. If it meant getting closer to the real deal, then she had no choice but to play along. For now.
Standing up was out of question and moving around while completely entangled in whatever the black shadow goop was was hard enough, but it was made almost impossible in the pitch black darkness, courtesy of the giant dome of darkness that Sombra had created just before he disappeared with Coco. Sugarcoat lost count on how much time has passed, but she spent all of it slowly crawling on the dirty roof, trying to find a way towards the flower bed. It took a while, but she knew she finally found it when she felt a few thorns scratch her face. She would've yelped from pain, if her mouth wasn't gagged with the magical shadow. At least her glasses protected her eyes from getting gouged out.
The reason she chose to get herself there was a pair of garden shears, left by members of the gardening club. She fought through more roses (I told them it should've been tulips!) until she reached the desired item. It took even more time and literal thorns in her side to position herself to be able to grab it with the tip of her fingers and rotate it in a way to cut through the thin shadow tendrils on her hands. The shadow was no match for first grade gardening tools.
Once completely free, after first removing some thorns out of her uniform and massaging her scratched cheeks, she checked her phone. Not to call for help (she figured this magic would block the reception), but to turn on the flashlight so she could look for Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest. The three of them had some unfinished business.
Ever since the first attack was neutralized, the basement of Crystal Prep school was eerily quiet, with all Shadowcats gone. Other than working water pipes, the only other sound that echoed in the corridor was an occasional loud banging on the door. It went on for a few minutes in regular intervals, until the hinges finally gave in and the door fell on the ground with a loud thud, with an unnaturally strong girl in dirty gym clothes falling along with them. Her friend walked from behind and helped her stand up.
Once up, Indigo massaged her aching right shoulder, glad to feel it was still intact despite non-stop tackling. Crystal Prep didn't spare any expenses, not even on underground gym doors.
"A game, huh?" Indigo smacked her fists. "Let's see if it's multiplayer!"
Sunny Flare nodded. "Yes. Let's."