I awoke with a pounding in my head.
I thought I heard Rainbow Dash calling “Twilight?” but that would be crazy, because Rainbow Dash was on Earth, and I was in prison.
Oh.
Oh, yeah.
Fuck.
“Twilight! You cool, buddy?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just...just a little woozy, is all.”
“Heh. Yeah, that’ll happen. The portal thing isn’t really the best at comfortable travel, you know.”
“I’m familiar with the flaws of interdimensional travel, Dash.”
“Good. I’d hate to have to explain it to you again.” She smiled, and reached down to me.
I accepted her hand. She pulled me up to my feet.
“Thanks, Dash.”
“No prob. So, uh...it’s been a while, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“How was prison?”
“Well, if you love cold food, itchy hay, and a bitch warden, then you’ll love it.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Sorry about not busting you out earlier. We didn’t have the resources to pull off a prison break.”
“Well, you got Cadence to get me.”
I then conveniently remembered my savior and her husband.
“Oh, Dash, how is Cadence and Shiny? Are they okay?”
“They’re fine. We have some good medics here.”
“What?”
“Oh, yeah. You’ve been gone a while. Welcome to the Sector.”
“The Sector?”
“It sounds more original than the Resistance.”
She had a point.
Dash continued. “So, as you may or may not know, Celestia wants to enslave people.”
“Okay…”
“And we, the Sector, are here to stop her!”
Well. That seems noble.
“Dash? How exactly do you plan on defeating her?”
“Well, her magic doesn’t work.”
“She still has an army of soldiers! She might even draft a ton of ponies!”
“Relax, Twi. One of our insiders got us some intel on her plans. She’s weaseled Queen Chrysalis into supplying her with an army of changelings.”
“How, pray tell, are changelings any better?”
“Changelings are immune to physical harm when it comes to death. If they… how to say it… if they sustain injuries that would kill a normal pony or human, they just disintegrate and mold themselves back together. It takes about two weeks to complete the whole nursing process, so a gone changeling is a good changeling.”
“What do human changelings look like?”
“Like normal humans, except they have fangs.”
“Fangs? Like, for biting?”
“Yeah. But, enough chit-chat. The other girls are here.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ll take you Fluttershy first. She’s closest.”
Dash led me through a series of twists and turns. “Where are we, anyways?” I asked.
“A small, abandoned apartment complex in San Francisco. It’s our main base.”
“Main base?”
“I’ll explain it to you later. We have more important things to worry about, Twi.” Rainbow guided me to a small wooden door. She rapped on the door.
“Come in!” a voice that no one but Fluttershy could have. Do I really need to explain to you what she sounds like?
Rainbow turned the small metal knob and pushed. Inside, a woman in a blood-covered apron was applying gauze to a woman with strikingly blue, spiky hair.
Both turned up to look at us.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened as soon as she saw me. “Twilight!” She dropped the gauze and ran over to me, wrapping me in a bear hug. Well, it was more of a cub hug, but you know what I mean. “Oh, Twilight, I was so worried about you! You were gone for so long, and I was so worried…”
“You already said that, Shy.” I smiled, and returned the hug. “It’s good to see you, too.”
Fluttershy turned to her patient. “Oh, Vinyl, I’m so sorry I dropped the gauze. Here, let me get that.”
Vinyl smiled. “Nah, it’s cool. It feels tight enough.” She wiggled her arm, demonstrating. “See?”
“Well… alright, then. If it feels loose, just come find me. Alright?”
“Sure thing, doc.” She got up and walked over to me. “Hey, it’s, uh… it’s good to see you’re alive. We were pretty worried about you.”
“Thanks. It’s good to be back. Vinyl, was it?”
“Yeah. Vinyl Scratch.”
“Ah, yeah. The DJ, right? I’ve heard some of your albums. You’re pretty good.”
She blushed. “I’m not that good. Besides, my friend Tavi helped me out a lot. Speaking of which, I gotta go check in with her, because she wanted to see me when I got out. I’ll see you around, yeah?”
“Sure thing. Take care of yourself.” I turned to Fluttershy. “Why’d she need gauze?”
“She was shot on a small scout mission earlier. The bullet only grazed her arm, but…” She sighed. “If it hadn’t hit her where it did, she would have died from blood loss, I bet.”
“Scout mission?”
“Yes. We heard reports of fanged men and women attacking people on the street. Vinyl and Octavia went out to investigate. Octavia escaped unscathed, but Vinyl… well, you know the rest.”
I nodded. “Hm. Alright, then. Hey, I gotta go see the other girls. I’ll talk to you later, alright?”
She nodded. “I’ll see you around, Twilight.”
Rainbow pulled me out of the room Fluttershy’s set-up was in. “Alright. Rarity likes to hang around here somewhere…” She turned a corner. “Aha! There you are.”
I walked around said corner, and standing there was Rarity. “Oh, Twilight! It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it?” she she said, placing the large rifle she was polishing on the table next to her and rushing over to me. She wrapped me in a hug, which I returned. “It’s… it really has been a long time.”
“Yeah, it has.” I pulled out of the hug. “It’s good to see you.”
“Likewise.” She returned to the rifle, and to her polishing. “So, how is it, being back into the human form?”
“Well… it seems pretty natural. I’d have thought that I’d have gotten rusty, but, here I am. So, uh, what’s with the rifle?”
“Oh, this?” She bit her lip. “How best to explain it… well, it’s a sniper rifle, first and foremost. For shooting things from really far away.” She reached behind her and pulled out a smaller pistol. “This is for more close-range encounters.”
“So, you’re the group sniper?”
“In a nutshell, yes, although Fluttershy has given me basic first aid tips if the need ever arises.”
All of a sudden, a loud alarm started blaring. Rarity’s eyes shot open wide, and she quickly grabbed for her rifle and pistol.
She turned to me and grimaced. “And the need has just arisen.”