> Sunset's Redemption
>  by TheNewYorkBrony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Princess Twilight,

Things on this side of the pond have been going pretty well. Since the whole school had seen what we did, everyone's become less hostile to me. Even Trixie's let up. 

We don't exactly know what happened to The Dazzlings. We went to look for them after you went back through the portal but had no such luck. I guess since they couldn't sing anymore, they decided there was no reason for them to stay here in Canterlot.

I don't blame them. I would've left too had you not convinced the girls to give me a second chance.

Speaking of the girls....They've been so nice to me. I don't know how I could ever repay them for the kindness they've shown me. I honestly think I don't deserve friends like them.

Or you.

Especially you. Princess of Friendship or not, I nearly killed you and the girls and you all turned your cheeks like it was nothing. I still feel horrible for my actions towards you all and the rest of Canterlot High. I wish there was some way to repent for my wrong doings. Any ideas?

Yours in friendship, Sunset Shimmer.


Sunset closed the book and sighed as it flashed, sending Twilight her message. She was alone at the group's usual lunch table, since the rest of the girls were in the music room, practicing.

She was now a part of the band as much as they all were, but sometimes Sunset liked to be by herself so that she could write to Twilight in peace without Pinkie over her shoulder shouting out things to tell the princess.

She propped her head up on her hand and looked around the cafeteria, disinterested. Things have been pretty mundane since the battle of the bands. Aside from some normal trouble like fights or the occasional argument, there really wasn't anything going on at CHS that could be considered note worthy.

Or interesting enough to report to a princess.

Granted, that should be a good thing since a few weeks ago the entire world rested on her and the others' shoulders. Boring should be good. Boring should be the best thing ever.

But it wasn't. When things got boring, Sunset got bored. And when she got bored, at least, in her past, she'd stir up trouble. That wasn't something she was considering doing now, though. Not with the progress she's made on her road to redemption and the friends she's aquired.

But now instead of making others miserable, she was making herself miserable by over thinking everything. She was becoming antsy, and the temptation to be evil again was always at the forefront of her mind.

She prayed to Celestia that it was just a momentary relapse, and not something that would stick around forever. Because if she ever caved, the world would see an evil it has never seen.

Of course, she would write an urgent letter to Twilight before that ever happened so that the girls could zap her with the Elements again. But she wasn't so sure they would work the second time around.

A tray clattered onto the table and Sunset looked up to see Applejack sit down next to her in her usual seat. "Ya'll didn't come to practice again today," She said conversationally, but side glancing the older girl. "Somethin' botherin' you sug?"

Ah, the always intuitive Applejack. Aside from Pinkie and Rarity, she was someone who could tell what someone else was feeling just by the way that they sighed.

"Not really," Sunset lied. "Just, I kinda wanted to be alone for a while." She responded, biting into the apple that had been sitting on her now cold tray all period.

"So ya'll come to a crowded cafeteria?" Applejack asked skeptically. "C'mon Sunset. Ah may fit the stereotype but Ah sure as hell ain't no dumb hick."

Sunset slumped in response. "Yeah, sorry." She mumbled half-heartedly.

"Part of the perks of having friends is being able ta have people who can help ya with yer problems," Applejack reminded her, putting a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "All this lone wolf stuff is kind of redundant when you got people who care about ya."

She had a point. "Well-" Sunset was cut off by the book buzzing. That was odd. Twilight's responses would usually take a few hours. She looked around once before opening it.

Dear Sunset,

It's nice to hear that things are going well over on your end. Things are pretty great here too. I know you're wondering why I responded so quickly. I know it's very unusual for me because I rarely do thanks to my daily duties and what not.

But I couldn't help but notice the note of anxiety in your letter. I would ask if everything is truly alright, but that would be completely redundant since it's very clear that things aren't. I don't have much time but I will say this. 

Sunset Shimmer, you have changed so much since the first time we met. You are a kind, strong minded, strong willed person with a heart of gold. It's not up to me to decide whether or not you have redeemed yourself enough or what you need to do to atone for your past behavior.

It is up to you.

You must decide for yourself if you are truly reformed. I am not you so I cannot tell you what to feel. But if you ever need someone to help you with this, you can always write me and I will always respond when I can.

Yours in friendship, Twilight Sparkle.

Sunset's eyebrows furrowed. It was up to her? What did Twilight mean by that? Aren't there higher forces that are supposed to decide her fate for her? And if not, then what was she supposed to do? The desire burning in her heart was starting to burble up again, making even the smallest good willed decisions seem asinine.

She hadn't noticed that the other girls had sat down at the table until she felt five pairs of eyes on her. 

"Are you are alright, darling?" Rarity asked, taking her hand compassionately.

"Yes! I'm fine! Would people please stop asking me that?!" The older girl blurted in blind anger, banging her fists on the table.

The loud sound disturbed the flow of conversation in the crowded cafeteria, causing many to look over at their table.

Sunset jumped up from her seat, the chair making a screeching sound across the linoleum floor as she stomped out into the hallway.

Pinkie Pie reached over her own food to get to Sunset's now abandoned tray and snatched up her bitten apple, biting into it herself. 

"Pinkie!" The other girls shouted in various tones of disgust.

"What?! It's not like she's gonna come back and finish it!" Pinkie said defensively, taking another bite.

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset tossed and turned that night, moaning in her sleep as nightmares overtook her. She had been having these nightmares ever since Twilight left. For a few days she was fine, and then she started having dreams where she was being visited by something, but she couldn’t really make out what it was. 

The dream was always the same. She’d wake up in a snowy dense forest, and walk for a little while. In the shadows she’d see a figure who would look at her as if it was telling her to follow it.

And she would. Sometimes even running to keep up with the thing. And it would lead her straight to her doom. Whether it be falling off a cliff or a pack of wolves. Sunset always woke up sweaty, scared, and screaming at the top of her lungs.

Tonight was no different from any other night it seemed.

She quickly sat up, gasping for air as she did. She hadn’t told anyone about these dreams, not even Twilight. She thought they were something she could handle on her own, but was beginning to think that she couldn’t handle this alone.

Part of the perks of having friends is being able ta have people who can help ya with yer problems.

Maybe Applejack was right. Maybe she should just come clean about everything that has been bothering her for the past few days. It would certainly make her feel better, and could possibly get rid of her weird nightmares.

No. Sunset was not handicapped. She could take care of this on her own. Plus, the girls have already done so much for her. She didn’t want to be a burden on them with her problems. 

Sunset glanced at the clock on her nightstand. Three am. She could write to Twilight, but knew the alicorn probably won’t check the book until morning. She also didn’t want to disturb her, knowing she’d need all the rest she could get. Sighing, Sunset rolled out of bed and went into the kitchen of her apartment to make some coffee.

As the coffee pot bubbled, she couldn’t help but shake the feeling that something was very wrong.





No matter how much make up she put on, she couldn’t hide the bags under her eyes. Coffee had been a really, really bad idea. She should have known that drinking caffeine would have made her jittery and cause her to stay up all morning. Now she was tired as hell and she couldn’t do anything about it since school started in half an hour.

That’s the last time I give in to my caffeinated urges. Sunset thought, putting on her motorcycle helmet. She revved the engine a few times before taking off down the street.

Nothing woke her up more than the wind whistling in her ears and the world around her whizzing by. The exhilarating feeling of going so fast made her smirk to herself. Well, the day isn’t having such a bad start.

She was driving so fast that she had arrived at school ten minutes early. (this was dangerous, but she really didn’t care.) Sunset took her helmet off and shook out her two-toned locks, checking herself in the rear view mirror. 

Satisfied, she was about to walk off into the building when she saw something out the corner of her eye. It was a girl in a lab coat. She was about her age, and looked like she didn’t get out the house much. But that wasn't what caught her eye. It was the hair and her skin tone. This girl wasn’t just any girl, this girl was their world’s Twilight Sparkle.

Sunset knew this moment would come some time, but she had always thought that the girls would be there to back her up. Now that she was alone, she didn’t exactly know how to approach this.

“Hey you!”

Sunset couldn’t help but let out a quiet “Eeep!” as she spun around. “Uh, yes?” She answered in a small voice that could rival Fluttershy.

“Do you go to this school?” Twilight Sparkle asked, walking over to her. She had some type of device that started beeping the closer she got to Sunset.

“Uh, yeah, I’m a senior actually,” She winced as Twilight gave her a once over before shoving a recording device in her face.

“Could you give me a detailed explanation as to why this school has been expelling copious amounts of supernatural activity?” 

“What?” Sunset blurted, blinking.

“Supernatural activity. You know, magic,” The other girl explained, adjusting her glasses.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sunset lied, laughing nervously. “Magic? Come on, don’t you think that’s a little unrealistic and childish?” Could this Twilight really know about magic? Could she really know about the Elements, The Dazzlings, and all that has happened at CHS the past few months?

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “So you’re telling me you didn’t feel that seismic wave that occurred four weeks ago? Or see the rainbow illuminating the night sky?”

Sunset thumbed at her phone in her pocket. Once she got rid of Twilight, she was going to text the girls ASAP. “Yes, I didn’t. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have class in five minutes and I’d like to get there on time,” She said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and pocketing her keys.

Once inside the building, she made a mass text and sent it to everyone.

Emergency meeting in the music room. Now.

Starting on her way to the music room, Sunset couldn’t fight the feeling of dread she got earlier that morning. It was like Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense, though even more vague and immediate. She’d write to Twilight after the girls were all informed on what just happened.

One by one, they all trickled into the music room, each mumbling their own greetings. The moment everyone got settled, Sunset recounted her tale. 

“So...what? She’s just snooping around for evidence of magic? How is that a problem?” Dash asked, shrugging. “No one’s gonna believe her! They’re all gonna think she’s crazy!”

“That’s the problem, Dash. We don’t know that for sure.” Sunset told her. “Think about it. Twilight told us that The Dazzlings were all powerful beings who were banished here for their crimes against Equestria. Who’s to say they’re the only ones here?

“They were sent here over a thousand years ago, and in the course of a thousand years, there’s no guarantee that there weren’t more evil beings sent here. We don’t know who could be a Siren or a Demon or whatever because once they come through that portal, they all look like us,” Sunset explained further.

“Plus, The Dazzlings were drawn to the school because of us and the magic we all emit. There could be students in this school right now who are banished villains from Equestria waiting for the perfect time to strike and take it from us.” 

“Oh my, this is  a problem,” Rarity said with her hand to her mouth. 

“But what does this have to do with our world’s Twilight?” Applejack asked. “This sounds like it mainly has ta do with us.”

“Haven’t you heard of the saying ‘curiosity killed the cat’?” Sunset asked. “If we let her little investigation continue, she could be in serious danger of coming face to face with something unimaginable.”

“Well why don’t you take out that book thingy and give Twilight a ring! I’m sure once she comes through the portal, she’ll know what to do!” Pinkie suggested.

Sunset frowned. “That’s another problem. Because our Twilight is snooping around the school looking for signs of magic, Twilight coming through the portal would make one of her magic detecting doo hickeys go off. And we don’t know what could happen if they were in the same place at the same time.”

Applejack whistled. “Shoot. Jus’ when Ah thought everythin’ was going back to normal, here we are being sucked into another battle.” 

Sunset tapped her chin. “We might not have to. We can still talk to Twilight, she just can’t come through the portal.” She took out the book and began to write.


Dear Princess Twilight

I ran into you today. No, literally. I ran into our world’s version of you. And I wouldn’t be writing to you about it if it wasn’t a serious problem. She’s smart just like you and curious just like you. I saw her searching around the school this morning and when she saw me she started asking me all these questions.

She knows about the magic. She knows about the rainbows and the battle of the bands. I was able to get her off my back today, but I don’t think we can hold her off for long. What do you suggest we do?


The bell for school to start rang, and Sunset groaned, knowing she had to cut this one short. 

Yours in friendship, Sunset Shimmer.

She closed the book then put it back in her bag with a sigh and followed after the girls as they each went their separate ways for first period.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Power.

So much power. Dark magic flowing through her veins, oh it was intoxicating the way her body pulsed with power. Her movements were her movements and yet they weren't her own. "Finally! More power than I could ever imagine!"

She laughed as she looked at her red tinged skin. Her voice wasn't her own, and yet, it was. She smirked when she saw her fellow classmates looking at her with fright in their eyes. "I am your princess now, and you will be loyal to me!"

"Gah!" Sunset let out as she jumped awake. It took her a moment to realize she had fallen asleep in her English class and that everyone was now staring at her.

"Something troubling you, Miss Shimmer?" Mr. Note Worthy asked, with a raised brow.

"Uh, no, sorry." Sunset apologized, shrinking in on herself. She didn't think she'd actually fall asleep in class. She thought she'd had this under control.

At least the nightmare was different. It wasn't her being lead to her death. But why did she start dreaming about what she had became?

A tingling sensation ran through her body, making her shiver. Yeah, something was going on here. And she was sure it wasn't just some dumb relapse. The more she had these dreams, the more she had the desire to become evil again.

She wouldn't tell Twilight and the others about it just yet. She was sure that once she took some sleep medicine the nightmares would go away and she could sleep in peace.

Until then though, she had to stay awake for as long as possible. The last thing she needed was another outburst during class.





Staying awake proved harder than she thought as her head slumped into her tray at lunch. She jolted up when her forehead met her mashed potatoes.

"Jesus Christ. Any longer and you would've had gravy up your nose," Dash commented, twirling her spaghetti around her fork.

"You do look really tired," Fluttershy told her, nibbling on a carrot.

"Yep, thanks for stating the obvious, Shy." Sunset muttered, using her napkins to wipe the gunk off her face. She pushed her food away from herself in disgust and grabbed the apple off of Applejack's tray and bit into it.

The others stared at her in disbelief.

"What?" She barked, swallowing.

"Nothing," Rarity responded, putting her hands up in surrender. "Just, you're a little irritable today is all."

"Yeah, less than five hours of sleep will do that to a person." Sunset sniped, wiping the juice from the apple off her mouth with the back of her hand.

"You're being a real bitch." Rainbow told her with a frown.

"It takes one to know one, Dash."

Rainbow stood up and slammed her hands on the table. "You got a problem?! Because we can so go right now!" She shouted, rolling up the sleeves of her hoodie as Sunset stood up too.

Applejack got up out of her own seat. "Hey now, c'mon ya'll, let's not do this, alright? Not here." She looked between the both of them for an answer.

Both girls sat back down without a word.

The table was quiet for a moment, except for the occasional sound of Sunset biting into her apple.

"Well, today is certainly turning out to be an eventful day," Rarity said, fanning herself.

You could say that again,  Sunset thought. But god did it feel good to stir up some trouble again. The anger in Rainbow's eyes was almost if not more delicious than the fear that had been in them before Sunset had attempted to blast her and the others to smithereens.

Whoa...where did that come from? And why did thinking things like that feel so good? Unless...She shook her head. No, that couldn't be it. The Elements had rid her of all her evil. What was happening was just a short relapse. But that still didn't explain the dreams.

"Aw man!" Pinkie groaned.

"What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked, turning to her.

"Flash has a cold!" 

"Uh, Pinkie, that's sad and all, but what does that have to do with you?" Applejack furrowed her eyebrows.

"He was supposed to help me with my math homework! Now how am I supposed to raise my D to a B?!" Pinkie wailed, putting her head on the table.

"I....uh, I could tutor you." Sunset mumbled.

"You? You're going to tutor Pinkie?" Dash asked her skeptically. "You sure about that?"

Sunset frowned, swallowing back the snide comment she had on the edge of her tongue. "Yeah. Why not? I'm really good at math and Pinkie needs a tutor. Friends help friends, don't they?" She responded, giving Rainbow a half glare.

"They do indeed," Rarity agreed. "Though I never really saw you as the.... Intellectual type. No offense, darling."

Sunset shrugged. "None taken. Being smart doesn't really fit the whole bad girl persona I got going on." She said waving her hands around. "So whatcha think, Pinks? Me, you, and a overnight study date?"

"Date?" Fluttershy blinked. 

"It's not an actual date, dearie, it's an expression." Rarity explained to her softly.

"Yeah, plus I'm pretty sure Pinkie and Sunset don't lean that way." Rainbow said proudly, crossing her arms.

Sunset snorted. "With what evidence? You've only seen me date Flash and I didn't even like him. Plus I'm from a world where the female to male ratio is like ten to one. I could be bisexual and you wouldn't even know."

Applejack whistled. "She's got a point. What about you Pinkie? Who do you fancy?"

"What is this, the fifty's?!" Dash barked.

Pinkie shrugged. "Meh. I don't know. I can't date yet because of my parents. But I guess if someone had to ask like you just did, I'd say everyone."

"Everyone?" Rarity asked, confused. "Pinkie, how can you-"

"Will Sunset Shimmer and her five friends please report to Principal Celestia's office." Boomed from the loud AP system.

"Oh boy." Applejack muttered, standing up. "C'mon ya'll. This can't be good."

The others followed her out the cafeteria and began their walk to the administrative office. 

Sunset's stomach churned. She felt like she was going to be sick. She hadn't been able to eat much these past few weeks. She'd grab a bite on the way home if she didn't eat breakfast or at school, but now even that was becoming a challenge for her.

"You alright there, sugarcube? You look more sick than Applebloom did when she found out where babies came from," Applejack told her, gently rubbing her back.

Sunset took a deep breath. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Nervous is all." That was the second time she had lied to Applejack. And Applejack could always tell if someone in their group was lying. But she guessed since she's been so distant that the other girl didn't persue the subject in fear of completely pushing her away from her and the rest of the girls. 

Which was a nice gesture, but she didn't really need them to be that considerate of her. She was beginning to feel more like a charity case than a friend. She knew these were just her negative thoughts getting the best of her, but she couldn't help it. She hadn't slept a wink in three weeks, and hadn't eaten properly in two. 

She was weak, and she hated it.

They entered the principal's office without a word. Vice Principal Luna closed the door softly behind them as Principal Celestia shut the blinds.

Sunset felt a sense of deja vu, as this was what exactly happened when they had came here a few weeks before to warn them about The Dazzlings.

Celestia sat down at her desk and folded her arms. "Good afternoon, ladies." She greeted. "I bet you're all wondering why you're all here."

"Wow! She's good!" Pinkie whispered.

The other five smacked their foreheads.

"Please do continue, Principal Celestia," Rarity told her, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at Pinkie's antics. 

"Yes, well, you all have probably heard that Flash Sentry is ill." The older women stated.

The girls nodded.

"Pinkie said it was just a cold. But judgin' by the look on yer face, Ah'd say this ain't no regular cold," Applejack said with a frown.

"Very heedful of you, Applejack." Celestia praised. "But yes, you are absolutely correct. This is no regular cold." She reached under her desk and pulled out three different folders which Sunset recognized as student records.

"Three students this week have come down with the same illness. Sunny Rays, Trixie Lulamoon, and of course, as you know, Flash Sentry." Celestia gave them all a serious look.

"You all are the most magic knowledged at this school and have connections to magic also thanks to Twilight Sparkle. I'm tasking you with the job of finding out what's causing this and eliminating it."

"Uh, Principal Celestia," Rainbow piped. "Not to break up the serious mood or anything, but I don't think this is as serious as you're making it out to be. I mean, it's not exactly winter, but people get the flu and stuff like that all the time. How do we know it isn't you know, just that?"

Vice Principal Luna cleared her throat to get their attention. "We don't. That's why as a precautionary effort, we're asking you six to be on the look out for anything peculiar."

"Got ya." Dash nodded.

"Speaking of peculiar, we have a serious problem," Sunset said putting her hands down on Celestia's desk.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Celestia asked with a raised brow.

"Our Twilight, as in the Twilight Sparkle from our world, has started to stalk around the school looking for signs of magic. She might know about everything that's happened these past few months. We need to get rid of her, especially now that we might have a threat against the school."

Celestia hummed. "Understood. Don't worry about her. We'll take care of it." She said with a smirk.

Sunset shivered involuntarily. Something about Celestia's words didn't seem....right.

"Well, lunch is over and I do want you all to be punctual for class. So off you all go." Celestia said, making a shooing motion with her hands.

Once they were sure they were all out of earshot, Fluttershy brought up something they had all been thinking. "Didn't they seem a little...off to you guys?"

"Are you kidding me?! Everything about them screamed 'under a bad mojo'!" Dash nearly shouted. "I say we write to Twilight about this whole thing pronto!"

"No!" Sunset snapped rather loudly. She coughed. "I-I mean, you had a point earlier. We don't know if it truely is magic, or some sucky cold. We shouldn't worry her unless we absolutely need her help."

"Sunset's right," Applejack said, backing her up. "Twilight is a princess. And while we're her friends, she has friends just like us back home too. She has alot to worry about already and us freaking out over every little abnormality will stress her out."

Sunset inwardly sighed in relief. Applejack to the rescue. She didn't know where that outburst had came from, but she knew it probably stemmed from her being so adamant about keeping her inner turmoil to herself. She guessed she panicked when Dash brought up Twilight because she thought they were going to tattle on her for being bitchy.

Bitchy didn't always equal evil though, and though Sunset had been a real bitch in the past, being one and having an attitude was completely different. But it didn't feel that way. Not to her. It felt like she had taken a giant step back and was resting on the space between start and her past.

She felt like she was in limbo, like one wrong move could send her in a blood thirsty frenzy. She started to feel dizzy and her body began to sway.

"Sunset? Oh dear...she looks so pale..." Fluttershy whispered in worry.

Sunset collapsed on the floor.

"Sunset!" The rest of the girls cried, crowding around her.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miss me?

Sunset startled at the voice in her head. She looked up to see that she was no longer in the hallway outside of Principal Celestia's office with her friends, but was inside her own head.

Miss me?

The voice repeated. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite put a face to it. "Who are you?" She called back into the dark nothingness.

Maniacal laughter.

Oh, my dear, you'll soon find out. But for now. You should get back to your so called friends.


Sunset awoke with a gasp, her vision blurry.

"Hey, hey, easy there, Sunny. It's me, AJ. You're in the nurse's office." Applejack rubbed her back as Sunset's breathing slowed.

"W-What happened?" Sunset turned to the other girls who were all expressing different looks of worry.

"You fainted," Fluttershy told her.

"Malnourishment, to be more specific." Nurse Red Heart cut in, holding her clip board. "A sign of stress. Either you haven't been eating much or you haven't been eating at all."

"I've...missed a few meals here and there..." Sunset murmured. "I didn't think it would affect me that much since I was always eating during lunch."

"Uh huh. And what does this lunch consist of?" Nurse Red Heart raised a brow.

"An...apple." Sunset confessed, blushing. "Okay so I haven't been eating. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you fainted in a school hallway in front of other students." The older woman scolded her. She frowned. "Honestly! If your friends hadn't been there with you I don't know what could've happened." Nurse RedHeart turned to the other girls. "Until I'm absolutely sure Sunset has returned to her old eating habits I'm asking you five to keep watch on her at all times."

"Babysitting. We're babysitting her?" Dash's nose wrinkled in disgust. Sunset wasn't a child. If she wasn't eating that was her fault, not theirs. Why did they have to pamper her for her own incompetence?

"No, not exactly. More like monitoring. As in, calling her every few hours to remind her to eat, putting more than an apple on her tray at lunch, things like that." Nurse RedHeart told her.

"So....babysitting." Dash deadpanned in a disdainful tone.

"Well we'll be happy to keep an eye on 'er because that's what friends do. Right, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack said through her teeth, jabbing Rainbow in the arm.

"Ow, yeah, whatever," The prism haired girl muttered, rubbing her arm.

"Alright then, I'll leave you girls to decide shifts." and with that, Nurse RedHeart walked away, closing the curtain behind her to give them all some privacy.

"You don't have to pretend to care," Sunset snapped. "In fact I'd appreciate it if you didn't." She snarled.

"Uh, whoa. Calm down now. We all know it's taken Rainbow the longest to get used to this whole friendship thing," Applejack said. "But there's no reason to get snippy."

"Yeah whatever. I'm glad she doesn't want my friggin' help. Goes to show you just how much she's fucking changed!" Dash shouted.

Rarity gasped, appalled. "Rainbow Dash! Language!"

"I knew you still didn't like me! Wow! So much for being the element of loyalty! You can't even be loyal to your word! Next time, don't make a promise to a goddamn princess you know you can't fucking keep!" Sunset angrily collected her things and strode out of the nurse's office, ignoring the various calls of her name as the door closed behind her.





Sunset went home early that day, assuming that the damage had been done. She stayed inside all afternoon, watching the sky as a storm started to roll in, the clouds blocking out the sun.

As rain began to pitter patter, she couldn't help but shiver. She had been alone in her apartment plenty of times without any problems, but now it just felt...weird.

Her phone began to vibrate on the coffee table where she had thrown it when she had walked in. Answering it, she sighed deeply before she spoke. "Yes, Pinkie?"

"Oh. I didn't think you were gonna pick up. I mean, you were being such a Grumpy Umpy Pants earlier I just assumed-"

"What do you want, Pinkie?" Sunset asked her dryly.

"I want you to eat."

"You're gonna have to be more specific than that." The older girl told her in frustration.

"I want you to eat an actual meal. You're not a horse anymore you can eat real food you know," Pinkie told her in a more serious tone.

"I would if I could," Sunset responded, looking through her fridge. "I seem to be a little low on everything since I haven't had the need to buy food for the past few weeks."

"I'm coming over then."

"What?!"

"I'm coming over to bring you a meal."

"Pinkie you don't need to-"

Click.

Sunset sighed. Well, guess I'm having a house guest.





Pinkie arrived not even an hour later, two large shopping bags full of groceries in her hands. "I have pizza and I bought you some snacks and stuff for later on," She said, placing the bags on the counter.

Sunset hummed in thanks, then grunted as she realized something. "Hey, how'd you get my address?" She asked, watching Pinkie set the warm box of pizza on the counter.

"I texted Flash."

Of course you did. Another realization. "How'd you even get here? You're like, the only one of us who doesn't have a car. Besides Rainbow anyway."

Pinkie pulled out a slice as she spoke. "Maud gave me a ride. She took me to the store and dropped me off here."

"Well she can come and get you because like I said before, I can handle myself. You can go home." Sunset told her with a frown.

"And let you pass out again like you did earlier today?" Pinkie raised a brow. "I know I may not look like the most responsible one in the group, but I'm not stupid."

She had her there. And even though Sunset very much considered it many times, Pinkie was no dummy. Her childlike outlook on everything was annoying at times, but sometimes Pinkie was the most observant when it came to Sunset. Her, Rarity and Applejack were starting to get on her nerves with their intuitive natures.

"It's Manehattan style...." Pinkie said, waving a slice in front of Sunset's face.

Sunset’s stomach growled quite loudly. She blushed, looking down. “Okay...fine...you can stay. It’s not like I had a choice in the matter anyway.”

“Yay!” Pinkie shouted, throwing her arms around the older girl. “Oh! Oh! Better yet, I can stay the night that way I can cook breakfast for you!"

“Pinkie....” Sunset said in a warning tone.

“Just kidding!” The younger girl told her, sticking her tongue out. “Applejack’ll be over here in the morning to make you breakfast!” 

Sunset’s mouth opened in horror. Calling her and reminding her to eat was one thing, but coming over to cook her meals was another. It’s bad enough Pinkie knew where she lived! The other girls coming over constantly would irritate her to no end! “No! No more home visits with food!” She said, stomping her bare foot on the tile beneath her.

“Looks like someone’s still a Grumpy Umpy Pants,” Pinkie sing songed, starting on her second piece of pizza.

Sunset gave up on arguing all together and threw herself down on the couch. This was going to be a long night.





Twilight Sparkle stared at the letter Sunset had sent her. So it was true. There was a second version of herself. And while she was ecstatic know that there was at least one of her in the near endless number of other dimensions she knew of, (thanks to Starswirl's journals in the Canterlot Library that now currently resided in her own study,) 

She wondered why Sunset had written to her as if the other her was a true threat. She had no magic, (at least she assumed, since the mane five over there had none before she came) But she wondered. Could there have been such a thing as a magical residue? That seemed to be the case when Rainbow showed her that video of her shredding on her guitar when they were all at Sugarcube Corner.

She had taken her crown back, and the girls she had touched had retained some magic. Even Sunset regained some of her own magic thanks to the elements.

The princess tapped a hoof to her chin. "This is kind of tricky....I don't exactly know how to respond.." She read the letter over again and sighed.

Dear Sunset,

I'm not exactly sure what you should do, since I've never been in this situation, but I suggest you try to keep the magical output at a minimum. Since she knows about magic, she's probably built something to detect it. 

That's all I have. Report anything new to me as soon as you can. 

Yours in friendship, Twilight Sparkle.





Sunset heard a faint buzzing coming from somewhere. She reached for her phone, but realized that wasn't it. She remembered the book, and shuffled through her bag for it.

Opening it, she read the letter and deflated. Twilight was just basically telling her what she already knew. And she left school early so she didn't have anything new to tell her.

Sunset slumped into the couch. "This is ridiculous," She whined, kicking her feet like a child throwing a tantrum.

"How so?" Pinkie asked, sitting next to her with what Sunset assumed was her fourth piece of pizza. She handed Sunset a slice on her own plate and placed two cups of soda on the coffee table.

"I feel so useless. I'm supposed to be the leader. Twilight left me in charge of everything and I'm fucking it up!" Sunset ran her hands through her two toned locks.

"Hey, that's not true! You're a good leader! Though I don't know what you're exactly supposed to be leading," Pinkie said, attempting to comfort her.

"You guys! Twilight's not going to be able to come through the portal every time something magical happens and we need to start thinking of what to do in times like this!" Sunset explained, taking a reluctant bite of pizza. "But between me neglecting my health and me and Dash fighting, I can't even begin to think about what's possibly going on at school!"

"Wow that's a lot of responsibility for a newly reformed baddie." Pinkie said. "Look, I'll take care of Dashie. You just relax, okay?" She squeezed Sunset’s hand in comfort.

"In the meantime," she said, pulling out a math textbook from her bag with a smirk, "You can help me with my math homework."





The wind howled outside of Sweet Apple Acres, the limbs of trees swinging this way and that. Rain beat down hard, making the dirt road leading to the farmhouse soft and muddy.

The porch steps were soaked to the bone, making the normally warm apple smelling area smell like wet pine.

Rainbow Dash rapped on the farmhouse door, praying to god that Applejack heard her over all this rain.

She hugged herself, her thin hoodie doing little to nothing to keep her warm. Hopping around to generate some heat, she tapped on the door again, louder this time.

To her relief, she heard the blonde yell, "Comin'!" And was even more ecstatic when the farm girl opened the door.

"Wha-What in tarnation are you doing here?!" Applejack bellowed, the wind competing with her voice.

"P-P-Power went out at my place. I was h-h-home alone and g-got s-scared." Dash chattered.

"Well hurry up and come in before you get hypothermia! You're shaking more than Winonna after she fell in that well!" She looked outside to see Rainbow's bike propped up against the porch railing. "An' you rode that thing here?! Are you insane?!" She shut the door.

"Why didn't ya'll just go over to Fluttershy's? Or Pinkie's or Rarity's?!"

"Pinkie isn't answering her phone and Fluttershy and Rarity are still mad at me for what I said earlier," Dash stepped out if her soaked sneakers and hoodie and appreciatively accepted a warm blanket from Applejack.

"Ah'm pretty ticked off myself," Applejack told her, folding her arms. "You were pretty mean. She's trying her hardest to be good and you yellin' at her ain't gonna do nothin' but cause problems."

Dash curled up on the couch in the living room, staring at the warm fire crackling in the fireplace. "I didn't mean to be a jerk. She just, she got on my nerves! We've given her friendship when we didn't even have to! It was a stupid favor to Twilight that we start fresh with her and she treats us like horse shit."

Applejack sat down next to her. "Now Ah wouldn't say that," She told Rainbow, hugging her knees. "She's gone through so much. Makes sense she's a little irritable."

"Irritable my ass," Dash scoffed. "She called me a bitch! Me! Does she even know who she's talking to?!"

The farm girl patted her head with a laugh. "Boy if Ah hadn't've stepped in, ya'll would've been wrestling like two pigs in the mud."

"You do know your country analogies make no sense to anyone but yourself, right?" Rainbow said before sneezing.

"Yep," Applejack said, getting up to go into the kitchen to make some hot apple cider for her cold friend. "But hey, least you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, yeah." Dash dismissed, rolling herself into a blanket burrito. "Where is Pinkie anyway? It's weird for her to not answer her phone like that."

"She went over to Sunny's. Said she was gonna make sure she eats an' all that." Applejack responded from the kitchen. There was a brief pause as she turned on the stove. "You know I'm going over there in the mornin' to cook breakfast. You should come. Then maybe you and Sunset can work out your problems."

"Yeah no thanks. I'd rather not." Dash deadpanned.

"Oh yeah? An' how do you expect to get to school tomorrow? Your bike's caked in mud." AJ challenged, with a smirk.

Rainbow straightened. "Heheh, I mean uh, when do we leave?"





"So you take that and subtract it from 'x' and then you'll get thirty four," Sunset ran the pencil over the loose leaf in front of her so that Pinkie could follow along.

"Oh....Huh?" 

Sunset smacked her forehead. "You know what, it's getting late. You can spend the night if you want," She told the younger girl, stretching.

"Forrealzies?!" Pinkie squealed, throwing her arms around her.

"Yeah," Sunset coughed. "Now could you please let go? You're crushing my lungs,"

"Oh! Sorry!" Pinkie released her grip. "Don't worry, I brought my own pajamas." She pulled out a pink cami and some sky blue pajama shorts from her school bag.

"You knew I was gonna let you stay, didn't you?" Sunset asked in dry disbelief.

"Pinkie Sense never fails me!" Pinkie told her with a wink.

Sunset rolled her eyes playfully. "Well, I'm going to bed," She yawned. "Make yourself at home, or whatever." And with that she disappeared into the back.

When she was finally alone in her room, she closed the door and heaved a sigh. They had been going over math problems for the past three hours and having to explain the same thing twice to someone with the attention span of a goldfish took a serious toll on Sunset.

"Last time I ever agree to tutor anyone," She mumbled under her breath as she got under the covers.

She closed her eyes, and soon sleep overtook her.

That is, until she woke up with a searing headache three hours later. She screamed at the top of her lungs as the pain throbbed horribly.

Pinkie came bounding into her room not a moment later. "What?! What happened?! Did someone try to come through the window?!"

Sunset stopped hyperventilating for a second to give Pinkie a confused look. "We're on the eighth floor."

"So? People have ladders!" Pinkie rebutted. "But seriously you sounded like you were being murdered. What happened?!"

Sunset bit her lip, contemplating her next move. Should she lie and say it was nothing, or should she tell the truth? She didn't want Pinkie pestering her, but she also didn't want to deal with these nightmares alone any more.

"Pinkie....you can't tell the girls about this...but  for the past couple of weeks since Twilight left, I've been having these really awful nightmares that have been keeping me up all night and that's why I haven't been eating or getting enough sleep." Sunset confessed, playing with her bed sheets.

"Can you tell me what they're about?" The pink haired girl asked her.

Sunset shook her head. "No, I've already said too much. Just, trust me alright? In the near future if I need anything I promise I'll call you."

Pinkie nodded. "Okay. But...is there anything you need right now?" She asked, hopeful.

Sunset sighed. "Yeah. Can you sleep with me? I kinda don't want to be alone right now,"

Pinkie hugged her. "Sure." And with that, she wiggled under the covers and curled up next to Sunset.

She watched Sunset's eyelids droop before she was finally sound asleep.

Pinkie wrapped her arms around the other girl comfortingly. She blushed when Sunset nuzzled into her chest but said nothing as she too closed her eyes.

As the rain continued on outside, the two girls were safe inside, in each others arms.

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I told you she wouldn't be up this early! Only you and Granny Smith get up this early!" Dash whispered harshly so as not to disturb Sunset's sleeping neighbors as her and Applejack were trying to find a way to get inside the older girl's apartment.

"Well do you got any better ideas?! Because unless you wanna spend the day in jail, breaking an' entering ain't an option!" AJ whispered back.

Dash pushed Applejack out of the way and reached under the 'Welcome' mat in front of the door. She smirked when she found what she was looking for, and presented it to the other girl. "Everyone knows that there's always a key under the mat." She said smugly, opening the door.

"Oh yeah? Then how come you didn't check under our mat for ours?" Applejack quipped, shutting the door behind her and locking it.

"Because, I was too cold to think about that," Rainbow lied, putting the bags of groceries on the counter.

"Or think at all," AJ teased.

"Hey! If you're gonna keep being like this, I'm just gonna walk to school!" Dash shouted indignantly, folding her arms with a pout.

"Be my guest partner," Applejack told her, gesturing towards the frosted over window. "It's nearly below twenty."

Dash gulped. "Uh, on second thought, I think I'll just go wake Sunset." She padded into the back and gently knocked on Sunset's door. "Hey, Shimmer, wake up. Your babysitters are here." She said through the door.

"Sunset." She said, tapping again. "Yo, Sunset. Up and at 'em!" Dash knocked louder until she noticed that the door wasn't locked. She cracked it open, eyes bulging from what she was seeing as soon as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

She tip toed back into the living room/kitchen and tapped AJ on her shoulder. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" She giggled, jumping up and down.

Applejack paused from taking the ingredients out of the bags. "Why are you squealing like a little girl who's gotta use the bathroom?" She asked her with an eyebrow arched.

"C'mon!" Dash whispered, bringing her into the back where Sunset's room was. "They're cuddling."

Sure enough Sunset was embraced by Pinkie while the two slept. It looked very intimate to anyone who didn't know what happened the night before.

"Studying, huh?" Dash said loudly, jolting both girls awake. "Last time I checked, friends who just have tutoring sessions don't cuddle up like that."

Sunset rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Whuh? Rainbow Dash?! Applejack?!" She barked. "What the hell are you guys doing here?!"

"Ah'm supposed to be making ya breakfast," AJ responded with a smug grin. Her eyes shifted to Pinkie. "But it looks like you had a late night snack."

"It's not like that!" Sunset told her, blushing. "Pinkie heard me screaming last night and she came in here to see what was up."

Rainbow and Applejack shared a look.

"Okay I know that sounds so wrong but-"

"She's telling the truth." Pinkie backed her up with a yawn.

"Okay and how does that explain the cuddling?" Dash raised a brow.

"Uh...well, it just kinda happened, I guess. We fell asleep talking." Sunset lied. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The less of the girls who know, the better.

"Oh so that's what they're calling it now a days," The athlete teased.

Sunset threw a pillow at her. "Jerk!"

"C'mon ya'll, times wasting. We still gotta go to school today you know," Applejack reminded them, rolling her eyes.

They all went into the living room/kitchen area while Sunset stayed behind to make her bed. She wondered why the nightmares had developed into a painful headache. Not getting enough sleep was one thing, but if she was going to be hurting all day she might as well stay home. 

But she knew she couldn't. Because if she tried to stay home, that would lead to questions and those questions would lead to answers she had no intention of giving out. She sighed. When did my life become so complicated?

After she finished making her bed she yawned, walking out into the living room. She sat down next to Dash on the couch and sighed. "That was the best sleep I've had in weeks."

"I bet," Dash said suggestively, which earned her a punch in the arm.

Pinkie, who was helping Applejack with breakfast in the kitchen area, coughed into her arm to hide her rising blush. Even though it was true nothing happened between her and Sunset, the idea of them...well, doing anything that intimate together still made her feel a little embarrassed regardless. She was also pretty sure Sunset didn't like her in that way anyway.

The smell of cooking bacon filled the apartment as Applejack threw a pack in a frying pan on the stove. Pinkie cracked some eggs and began to scramble them, simultaneously starting a batch of pancakes. Cooking like this was nothing for her; she usually helped out a lot in the kitchen at Sugarcube Corner when it was extremely busy.

"Mmmm...that smells so good!" Sunset groaned, throwing her head back to watch Pinkie twirl around Applejack, cleaning up the flour and egg shells on the counter. It wasn't until then that she realized that she was incredibly famished. The piece of Manehattan style pizza she had the night before was nothing but a distant memory by now.

She hadn't had a home cooked meal in a long time. While she and Flash dated, he used to come over sometimes and surprise her with breakfast in bed. (Which was the reason for the key under the doormat.) It was a really sweet gesture, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss it sometimes. 

But now that they've officially broken up, it had been months since she ate at home. Sure she'd go with the girls over to Sweet Apple Acres for Christmas, New Years, and every other big holiday. But it was nice to just be surrounded by a small group of people she could trust and just share a meal with them that wasn't in a noisy puplic school cafeteria.

"Hey Dash? Why don't you make yerself useful an' set the table? Faster you do it, the faster ya'll can eat," Applejack called to her over the constant stream of water in the sink as she washed the pans her and Pinkie used.

Rainbow was about to protest and make a smart comment about how this was Sunset's place and that they were her guests, but swallowed it as she saw Pinkie place a huge stack of her famous funfetti pancakes on the table. She saluted the farm girl. "Aye, aye, Captian!"

Ten seconds later the table was set with four plates, knives, forks, and glasses. (After Sunset had told her where they all were, of course.) 

Applejack set down a container of her family's apple juice and smiled. "Dig in, girls!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Sunset and Dash said excitedly as they both grabbed a large stack of pancakes off the plate in the center of the table.

Pinkie turned the TV on and found some random cartoon to have as background noise to their on going conversations. She sat next to Sunset and began to eat too, being rather quiet.

"Twilight wrote me back last night," Sunset said, starting the conversation after a few minutes of silence. 

"Oh yeah? What'd she say?" Applejack asked, munching on a piece of bacon.

Sunset sighed. "Nothing of use yet. Just basically what I told you guys," She said, waving her fork around. "We need to get to school early so we can get a good look at that device our Twilight carries. It looked like an old video game controller or something."

"So what, she MacGyver'd herself a magic detecting device out of spare parts?" Dash asked. "Whoa. We've got us a hardcore nerd on our hands."

"A hardcore nerd that will probably stop at nothing to find out the truth. And if we don't stop her, she could get herself, and possibly the rest of us in some serious trouble." Sunset put another pancake on her plate. "The more we know about her, the more advice we can get from Twilight on how to get rid of well, Twilight."

"And how do you suppose we do that? She's some type of super genius or something. There's no way we can out smart her and trick her into telling us about herself." Dash rebutted, folding her arms.

"We don't need her whole life's story," Sunset told her, rolling her eyes. "We just need to know what she's up to. We know that she's snooping around for the cause of all the magical output, but we don't know why. She could want to find out for an infinite number of reasons."

Applejack nodded. "Besides, she doesn't know we're the cause of it. We can use that to our advantage. Though it wouldn't hurt to get a hold of that magic detector. It's like Sunset said, there's a magical residue that's blanketing the school and we need to know if the Battle of The Bands attracted any more beings from Equestria."

"And figure out if this so called cold going around is related to any of this." Sunset added. "If we can get a hold of one of her devices, we can kill two birds with one stone."

"Well let me know when you can come up with a plan that won't blow our cover," Dash said, folding her arms. "Because unless you've got a plan better than sneaking up on her, this whole thing is pointless."

Sunset smiled wryly. "Funny, I don't see you trying to contribute to the conversation."  

"I'll contribute alright!" Dash grumbled. "I'll contribute my foot up your pretty little-"

"Hey....uh...guys?" Pinkie piped up. She hadn't spoken the entirety of breakfast. But now she was glancing between the other three girls and her phone. "I think you guys need to see this," 

That got Sunset and Dash to stop their quarreling.

She held up the device in their faces. It was a post on MyStable, made by Pixel Pizzaz, one of Photo Finish's band members and friends. It didn't go into much detail, but they could all infer what happened.

"Okay so now that's four people with the same exact cold. That's not exactly suspicious considering it's below twenty outside," Dash said. 

"But don't you think this weather is a little abnormal for spring? Dashie, it's the middle of April why would it be below twenty degrees?" Pinkie asked her.

"April showers bring May flowers?" Dash shrugged.

"I think something or more like someone, is influencing the weather." Sunset theorized. 

"What do you mean? How can someone do that?" Applejack asked her.

"Duh! Magic!" Pinkie reminded her.

"Yea but, why? Why make the weather noticeably abnormal?" Applejack responded.

Sunset hummed in thought before snapping her fingers. "To make the cold seem like it's because of the weather! Think about it! Isn't it a little convenient that it rained yesterday and today another student is sick?"

"Yea, but that sort of thing happens all the time when it rains," Applejack said. "How does this make it any different?"

"That's the thing," Sunset said, practically jumping in her seat. "It's not winter. It's the middle of spring. The temperature outside shouldn't be lower than sixty. Even if we take into account global warming, it being twenty below in April still sounds strange."

"So what do you suggest we do now that we got a lead? Go snooping through the school, looking for students who look like they've seen that kiddie ice queen movie too many times?" Dash asked pointedly.

"No," Sunset answered, rolling her eyes. "We wait. And we watch. So far only four students have been infected with whatever's going around. And while we wait to see what happens next, we should interview the victims to see if they know anything. Maybe they could tell us if they saw anyone strange before becoming ill or give us an idea of what symptoms to look out for."

Applejack nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me." She looked at her watch and whistled. "We better get a move on, girls. School starts in forty five minutes."

"Okay, just, let me write to Twilight really quickly about what we found out," Sunset strode into her room and snatched the book up off of her bedside table, pulled out a pen out of her bookbag and began to write.


Dear Princess Twilight,

Forget other you. At least, for now. We have bigger fish to fry. I forgot to tell you but Principal Celestia had a sneaking suspicion that something was going down at CHS again. Turns out she was right. As I write this, it's below average temperature outside for April. Last night we had a really bad storm, but woke up to January like weather.

The girls and I theorize that someone from Equestria might be behind this. My knowledge of the creatures of the weather controlling nature is a little rusty, so I'd appreciate it if you sent me any information you have in your new library about that. I'm sure Princess Celestia gave you tons of books on everything.

Nothing exactly extreme has happened yet, but four students have been diagnosed with a mysterious illness that no one seems to know the name of. This is what Principal Celestia asked us to look into, and I have a feeling that whoever is trying to control the weather is trying to cover up their tracks.

As soon as we find anything major out, I'll be sure to let you know.

Yours in friendship, Sunset Shimmer. 

Oh and P.S., After this is over, I kinda need to have a talk with you about Pinkie Pie.


Sunset closed the book and sighed, shoving it in her bag. As she went into the bathroom to start getting ready, she couldn't shake the feeling that this was the beginning of something big.
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ride to school was sort of cramped; the Apple family pick up truck wasn't meant to hold more than three people. And since no one wanted to hitch a ride in the back in this weather, the girls all squeezed in as best as they could.

Sunset stared out the window in thought. Dash and Applejack argued over what to play on the radio, while Pinkie giggled at something on her phone.

Over the noise Sunset heard the whistling of the wind outside as they passed suburban house after identical suburban house. She hadn't really spoken much since they'd left her place, and no one really seemed to care.

There's this odd feeling I'm getting. She sighed. It was probably nothing. Just the anxiety of possibly having the world's fate on her shoulders. Again. She inwardly let out a dry laugh. My life has become a young adult novel these days. 

Not that she minded. Well, besides the nightmares of course. She could live without those. 

The school came into view and she breathed a sigh of relief when Twilight was nowhere in sight. Today was not a good day to be bombarded with investigative questions by Inspector Gadget.

Instead, they found Rarity standing in front of her BMW, a white bedazzled medical mask over her alabaster mouth making her look like a fashionable surgeon.

"What in tarnation are you wearing?!" Applejack asked her as she slammed the old driver's side door shut. "Ya'll look like yer preparing for surgery!"

"Well, if you all must know, there is something presently going around at this school and I'm taking every precaution to avoid it," Rarity explained with a flip of her hair.

"So, you didn't think a scarf would have been a, oh l don't know, better idea?" Dash asked her with a smirk.

"Don't annoy me," Rarity responded, locking her car.

At that same moment, Fluttershy pulled up in her yellow beetle. Getting out, she shivered miserably as she slung her messenger bag over her shoulder. "G-Good morning, g-girls," She said, sticking her hands in the over sized coat she was wearing.

They all quickly made their way inside and headed for the music room since they had a few extra minutes before school actually started. 

Sunset recounted what happened the night before, (leaving out the waking up screaming and cuddling with Pinkie part of course,) and told the other girls of her plan.

"Today after school we're gonna go over to Flash's house to ask him a couple of questions," She said, sitting atop the grand piano that was shoved aside for playing space.

She noticed that they hadn't played all together as a band in a long while. And they wouldn't no time soon. At least, not until after this whole thing was over.

"I asked Twilight to give me some ideas on what creatures could be doing this, so we should be hearing from her very soon." Sunset folded her arms and leaned back against the wall behind her. "Jesus. When did our lives become a youth novel?"

"The moment you brought that crown with you back from Equestria," Applejack responded. "Hadn't you brought it, we wouldn't have used magic that attracted The Dazzlings and whatever is plaguing us now."

"Yeah, but, if Sunset hadn't brought the crown we all wouldn't have met Twilight and she wouldn't have brought us all together again," Fluttershy reminded her. "And Sunset would still be evil and friendless. Er, no offense." She added quickly, turning to the girl.

"None taken, Shy." Sunset responded, giving her a weak, but reassuring smile. That's starting to get real old real quick.

"Anyway, we should head to class. The bell's about to ring." She slid off the piano and cringed as she lost her footing, stumbling to the floor. "Frick," She said, leaning against the leg of the instrument.

The other girls surrounded her. "You alright there, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, rubbing small circles into her back.

It wasn't much, but it did help. Sunset tried to avoid Pinkie's terrified and concerned gaze. Sunset felt bad for her. She was the only one who really knew what was happening. And she knew it killed her to keep it a secret because it would mean seeing one of her best friends in pain while saying everything's fine.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Sunset answered feeling a pain in her chest as she saw the disappointment in Pinkie's eyes. "I just got down too quickly,"

The girls shared doubtful looks, but didn't push the subject.

"Alright dear, if you say so..." Rarity told her, helping her stand up. 

The bell for first period rang, and silently they all made their way to class.

"These headaches are becoming a pain in the ass. If I knew that this was the alternative I would have stuck with the stupid nightmares," Sunset growled to herself, weaving her way through the thickening throng of students.





Twilight Sparkle trotted down the hall to her personal library to indulge herself in reading up on what could possibly be plaguing her Canterlot High friends.

She had awoken to Sunset's letter, and was beginning to see that this might be bigger than what they both thought. Using her magic, she thrusted open the crystal double doors and frowned when she saw  Discord lounging on a reclining chair reading Alice In Wonderland.

He lowered his reading glasses and smirked. "My my! Well, if it isn't the princess of the hour! The head honcho with wings! The purple pony with the know how!" He folded his paw over his claw. "Just the mare I wanted to see,"

Twilight raised a brow. "Why?" 

There was a magical poof and then Discord was snaking his way around Twilight's body.

"Isn't it obvious?! I want to help you in saving your human friends!" The god of Chaos told her. He produced a book with the snap of his fingers, and Twilight recognized it to be the one she uses to communicate with Sunset. "Sunbutt Jr. might be on to something you know,"

"I do know, that's why I'm here, looking for books on weather controlling creatures from Equestria. And what are you doing in my personal library?!" Twilight barked, blinking as Discord teleported back to his reclining chair with a flash.

"I wanted to do a little spring reading." He told her, his reading glasses popping back on his face. "Now, as I was saying, Sunset Shimmer might be on to something. Windigos? Possibly. But I have strong feeling that's not all that's going on here."

Twilight's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"You remember the Hearth's Warming Eve play you and your friends did three years ago, correct?" Discord asked her with a raised brow.

"Yeah, what about it?" The alicorn asked, sitting down on her haunches, interested.

"Windigos don't cause colds. Trust me, I would know. They bring cold weather and despair, yes, sure, but no illness," He snapped his fingers and a fur coat covered his body. "Someone else is having a hand in this disturbance of peace." 

"Like?" Twilight prompted.

"Now it wouldn't be fun if I told you everything, Twilight." Discord booped her on the nose. "How would this be an epic quest to save a parallel world from impending evil that develops Sunset as a character in her own right if I just gave you the answer?" He smirked when he saw the confused look on Twilight's face.

"Give her what she needs and be as uninvolved as possible unless it's necessary. Don't write her unless she writes you, and always be on your guard." He advised. "Celestia's former protégé is in some deep brown stuff if you know what I mean," 

Discord put his paw over Twilight's mouth as she began to speak. "Don't question me, Princess. I'm always right and this time is no different," He gave her a cheeky grin and she rolled her eyes.

Twilight silently trotted over to the history section of the library and began looking for the Creatures of Equestria  book she had seen in the cart the stallion had brought from the castle in Canterlot a few weeks back. That seemed like months ago. I just hope Discord's right. I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to Sunset and the others.





Sunset walked down the cafeteria line ignoring the plentiful amounts of food to get her usual single apple. She frowned when Applejack came up behind her and snatched the fruit away from her.

"Docs orders," She said, biting into it with a smirk and a wink.

Sunset rolled her eyes but didn't complain. She did pass out from not eating right, so she didn't really have a leg to stand on. Even if she wanted to protest this "monitoring" situation completely.

Rarity put a bowl of salad on her tray and a piece of bread. "Since you want to eat healthy, I figured you'd appreciate something simple like a salad," She sternly put a hand on her hip when she saw the disgusted look on the older girl's face. "And don't bother rejecting it because we're just going to give you something else in its place."

Sunset opened her mouth to speak, but shut it. Sighing, she accepted her fate and walked over to the group's usual table, the other girls following after her.

Dully, she repeatedly stabbed her fork into the salad, picking up bits and pieces of lettuce as she did. Bringing the fork to her mouth, she sighed as she began to chew. Well, it's not too bad. It could be worse.

"Flash's mom said we could come over after school," Pinkie told them all conversationally. "But since we all don't have cars that can fit everyone, do you guys wanna just go in separate rides?"

"I could get the van from the Animal Shelter," Fluttershy offered. "We'd all be able to fit in it. "

"Sounds like a plan to me," Applejack said. "How bout we all meet at the Animal Shelter and then we leave from there?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Great. Let's go as soon as school ends."





Sunset was once again in the cabin of the Apple family pickup truck, staring out the window. The temperature seemed to have warmed up a bit, but it was still a little too cold for comfort.

"Do you guys think what he has is...you know...contagious?" Dash worried, fiddling with her hands.

"Seeing how it's probably something magical related, maybe," Applejack responded, keeping her eyes on the road. "But I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is," She said, pulling into the Canterlot Animal Shelter parking lot.

The other girls were leaned against the van shivering from the cold. Applejack quickly parked the truck and jumped down from the drivers side, pocketing her keys. "Mighty sorry 'bout the delay. Roads were icy."

"Tell me about it!” Rarity exclaimed. “It was absolutely nerve wracking driving here!”

“Well we’re all here safe, and that’s what matters. Right Sunset?” Applejack said, nudging the older girl who hadn’t said a single word since they had gotten in or out of the car.

“Huh? Uh, yeah. Sure,” She answered absentmindedly. She hadn’t been to Flash’s house since they broke up, and she was more than a little nervous to go back. Even if it was just to question him, it still felt really weird especially when he seemed to love her a lot more than she loved him.

They all piled into the van and Fluttershy took off down the street. Sunset continued to stare out the window, looking rather depressed. My life is just one huge mess. “Argh!” She groaned as another pain in her head hit her full force. Her hands shot up to massage her temples.

The other girls were staring at her in wonder, Pinkie looking more concerned than confused.

Sunset cleared her throat. “Uh, sorry. I’ve just been getting these headaches and they’re a real bitch,” She smiled faintly. “Don’t you guys worry about me. I’m, I’m just dandy.” She nodded, (more to herself than them) and turned her attention back to staring out the window. Sweet Celestia I need to get to the bottom of this, and fast. I don’t know how much more I can take. She thought as she felt Pinkie watching her.





When they arrived, Flash’s mother opened the door, and ushered them into the house. She led them up the stairs and showed them where Flash’s room was. “Call me if you girls need anything,” She said, smiling.

“We will, Mrs. Sentry,” Sunset said, returning her smile, watching the older woman go down the stairs.

When she was sure she was out of earshot, Rarity thrusted little white masks into everyone’s hands. “Better to be safe than sorry,” She said, donning the one she had on that morning.

The other girls shrugged and followed suit. 

Sunset pushed open the door to Flash’s room and looked around. It was exactly as how she remembered it. (not that she thought about it often,) but she could almost remember the time when they just started dating and he brought her home to his parents as a ‘friend’ (he was still shy about the whole dating thing,) and they had come up to his room talking for hours. (among other things that she didn’t want think about right now in the presence of her friends)

Flash rolled over and tried to sit up, but failed. Rarity and Fluttershy were at his side at once putting pillows behind him, propping him up. He nodded in thanks and turned to them all, briefly making eye contact with Sunset. “Hey,” He said hoarsely. He was pale, and he looked fragile. Like something had sucked the life out of him.

“Hey yourself,” Sunset said back with a small smile. “You know why we’re here right?”

“Not to tell me I’m dying, I hope,” Flash joked with a smile of his own. “But yeah I do. Pinkie told me over the phone,” There was a small patch of silence and then he spoke again. “So, uh, are you gonna write it down, or...?”

“Oh! Right!” Sunset said, taking out a pen and a pad from her leather jacket. “Okay so, what exactly do you remember?” She asked.

“Well, I was walking home from band practice after school, and I decided to take a shortcut, one that I usually take to get home when I get out of practice too late. And as I’m walking down the street, the streetlights goes out. And then they come back on. I shrugged it off, thinking it was just an electrical glitch or something, And then this girl. She appeared out of no where. I couldn’t really see because she was hiding in the shadows...but she looked really evil.”

“What’d she look like? I mean, what could you make out, at least?” Sunset asked, her pen scratching on the paper. 

Flash shrugged. “Nothing much. She had fiery red hair and dark black eyes. Just looking into them made me feel really weird.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute,” Dash said, waving her hand. “Fiery red hair? Dark black eyes? Anyone else seeing a pattern here?” She jabbed a finger in Sunset’s direction.

“M-Me? You think I’m doing this?” Sunset barked, pointing at herself. 

“The description does kind of match what you er, turned into at the Fall Formal, darling,” Rarity told her.

“But I was cured by the Elements!” The older girl protested. “You were there! You all saw! You were the ones who gave me a conscience! I couldn’t possibly- Ah!” Sunset suddenly felt like she just hit by a freight train. She wobbled, but with the help of Applejack and Fluttershy, she regained her balance. Sighing, she adjusted her leather jacket. “I’m going outside for some air.” She announced, not bothering to wait for a response.

The others shared looks but continued on with the interview. 

“So what else is there? What happened that caused you to end up like, like this?” Applejack asked, waving her hands at him.

“I started walking faster, because I knew something was wrong,” Flash told them. “And then somehow she ended up in front of me,” He said before coughing. “With this smirk on her face. A smirk that told me she wanted me as her prey. And then....”

“And then?” Fluttershy prompted.

“Nothing. I woke up in the middle of the street with a pain in my chest. I hurried home after that and when I woke up the next morning I was like, well, this,” He replied, gesturing to himself. “I felt so tired. It was like someone sucked the life force out of me,”

“Somethin’ tells me the weather ain’t the only strange thing going on here,” Applejack said rubbing her chin. “What are the things you felt the most?”

“A pain, tiredness, and I was barely able to move after I woke up,” Flash listed. “That’s all I know,” He added with a shrug.

“That’s all we need to know. Thanks Flash, you were a really big help,” Dash said, finishing the notes Sunset started. She stood up, the others standing up with her. They all filed out of the room and made their way outside after saying goodbye to Flash’s mother.

“You guys don’t think that Sunset’s behind this, do you?” Fluttershy worried as they approached the van. It had been a question plaguing her since Sunset had gotten up and left.

Dash rolled up her sleeves as she saw the older girl leaned up against the van. “Welp, we’re about to find out.”
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Him. Yes, he'll do. There was something familiar about him. He smelled familiar, too. His scent was nice, inviting. A dangerous smell for a human to have. Oh but he was so gorgeous. If she wasn't so hungry she'd seduce him for her other needs. A tingle ran up her spine from excitement. She couldn't wait to get a taste of his energy. She was practically drooling as she watched him walk down the street, blue hair shining under the light of the streetlights.

She had to get closer. She just had to. Concentrating all her power she made the lights turn off for just a moment. Just so she could get a little bit closer. They flickered back on and he stopped, seeing her in the shadows of  the alleyway. She smirked.

"Hello?" He asked. "Is anyone there?" He called out.

She didn't answer. 

He started walking faster. The fear. She could smell it. She could smell it coming off of him as his stride turned into a full on sprint.

Now was her time to make her move. 

She ran up to him with incredible speed, surprising him. She practically moaned in delight when she saw the petrified look on his face. It was delecious. She pulled him close by the nape of his neck and kissed him, beginning the process of removing his energy. He didn't struggle, though she believed that to be because he passed out from shock.

He tasted so good. Just as good as she thought he would. She squealed happily as she felt him growing weaker. Though, for some reason she stopped once she realized that he was nearly drained. Just like she had with the other three victims. She didn't know why. That wasn't her style. She guessed her body was responding to something. Oh well. Guess it was time to go back home. She removed herself from the young man and left him in the street. 

On to find her next victim.





"You know, if you're leading an evil night life, it'd be nice if you told us," Dash sniped, pushing Sunset.

"I told you, I'm not behind this!" Sunset barked, pushing her back. "I think I would know if I was some life sucking creature!"

"How do we know you're not lying? You've lied to us before! You're the reason why all of this happened too! It'd make sense that you'd want to get close to us just so you could tear us apart again!" Rainbow accused.

Sunset was red in the face. "You're starting to sound like Trixie! I told you I've changed! I'm trying! I'm trying so hard!" She sobbed. "You can't even see that because you're so wrapped up in finding something to use against me so that you can kick me out! Your friendship shouldn't be a test or a thirty day trial! It should be just as genuine as Twilight's! God! This is Christmas all over again! Some friends you are!"

"Fine. Christmas was our fault. But you still have evidence stacked against you!" Rainbow said pointing at her.

Sunset smacked her hand away. "Yeah, evidence with no proof, you idiot! If you can't prove I did it, it's not evidence at all!" She balled her fists. "You know what? Screw this. I'm leaving." She strode off.

"Every time a problem comes up you leave! What does that say about you?!" Dash called after her.

"And every time there's a problem you some how blame it only on me! Now what does that say about you?!" Sunset rebutted, raising her middle finger before turning back around to continue her walk down the street.

The other girls glared at Rainbow.

"Oh whatever. Let her go. We don't need hee anyway." Rainbow mumbled. She opened the van door and got in. 

The girls sighed and got in after her too.





Twilight's readings were going off the charts! The magical output wasn't just coming from the school, but from six moving bodies as well! She couldn't exactly tell who they were, but she definitely knew they were students at that Canterlot High!

Once she found out who these six teenagers were, she could question them and possibly get DNA samples to analyze. If she had solid proof that magic existed, nothing could stop her from exposing it to the entire world with those six teens as her main attraction! She'd be a legend in the science world!

Spike barked. She bent down to pet him and scratch him behind the ears. "Not now, Spike. I might be on to something." Twilight told him.

He nudged her towards the door.

"Alright, alright, I guess it's time for your afternoon walk." She patted his head and got his leash off her lab table. After hooking it to his collar, she shoved her homemade magical detection device in her lab coat just in case she ran into one of those students.

It was unusually cold for mid spring, but Twilight thought nothing of it as she lead Spike around to do his business. When he was done, she tugged him in the direction of home, but he didn't budge. 

"What's with you? C'mon, let's go back home!" Twilight commanded as she struggled with this leash. But Spike didn't move. Not an inch. In fact, he was staring at something, a low growl rumbling from his chest. She looked in the direction of what he was staring at and saw the girl she had bumped into the day before.

She seemed to be very angry at something. Twilight felt a beeping in her pocket and realized that her magic detector was going off. The readings of magic on this girl seemed to be going off the charts! No wonder Spike was growling at her! There was definitely something off about the magic inside her. It seemed...old, ancient even. She wondered why. This girl must be one of those six magical units.

Before she could realize what was even happening, Spike took off after the girl, barking and yapping along the way. "Spike! Come back!" Twilight yelled. But he didn't heel. He kept on running. Groaning, Twilight began jogging after him.





Sunset was in her own little world when she heard the barking of a dog in the distance. She didn't think anything of it until the barking seemed to be getting louder and closer. That's when it occurred to her that there was a dog chasing her. 

 Jesus Chirst! Why now of all times?! She thought to herself as she broke into a sprint. She looked behind herself to see just how big of the threat it was and groaned. You've got to be freaking kidding me! It's Twilight's dog too! She skidded around a corner, narrowly avoiding being hit by a car. Spike was gaining on her, and she knew if she stopped he'd tackle her and keep her still until Twilight arrived.

She slid over the hood of a parked car, trying to put some space between her and Spike. But to no avail. The dog was just too fast. After a few seconds he was right on her tail again. She hopped a fence, clearing it, but groaned when the end of her leather jacket got snagged onto a frayed piece of metal. "Dammit!" She said through grit teeth, tugging and pulling at it as Spike yapped at her, trying to jump over it himself.

Growing even more pissed by the second, she continued to pull at the snared jacket. "C'mon! C'mon!" She growled. She felt something trigger within her and with an almost inhuman growl, the cloth tore free with a loud rip.

Without a second thought, she took off running, her tattered leather jacket the least of her worries.





Twilight finally caught up to Spike, out of breath and sweaty. She really needed to get him a stronger leash. (Or work out enough to be able to stand her ground against him). The dog was whining, something he almost never did. For a moment she thought that the girl had hurt him, but nothing seemed to be wrong with him. No scratches or bruises. He looked to be fine.

She glanced around and saw that the girl was nowhere in sight. But that didn't stop Twilight's magic detector from going off. She walked around with it until she heard it get louder and louder as she got closer to the fence. When she stopped in front of it, she saw the torn piece of what she assumed was the girl's leather jacket.

"How on earth did she tear this like that?" She mumbled to herself. As she picked it up, Spike started to growl. She bent down and patted him. "Good job, Spike. Now we have something to analyze."

A few hours later, back at her laboratory in her family's basement, Twilight ran the piece of leather under a DNA scanner in hopes of picking something up. Her computer alerted her to a piece of red and gold hair embedded in it. 

A few minutes ago, she had hacked into the Canterlot Hospital database. Maybe now that she had information on the DNA, she could match it to a file at the hospital, and finally get this girl's name.

She searched for females who stayed at the hospital over the past six months. A bunch of files came up, but once she typed in Canterlot High it was narrowed down to one. She clicked on it, and opened it.

"Sunset Shimmer. Age: 18. Sex: Female. Date of birth unknown?!" Twilight frowned. That didn't sound good. "Known living relatives unknown. Admitted for injuries caused by debris." Twilight tapped her chin before coming to a realization. "Wait a minute!"

She rolled her chair over to her board filled with graphs, pictures and readings. She plucked the graph reading  from the night of the Fall Formal and compared it to the date on Sunset's hospital file. 

She gasped.

It was the same exact date!

"Spike! Do you know what this means?!" She exclaimed, scooping the terrier into her arms. The puppy responded with a head tilt. She twirled him around in her arms. "It means that I was right! And that we're on to something!" She hollered, dancing around.

Caught up in her little celebration, Twilight failed to notice the red mist seeping off the leather jacket piece.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You are awful! Just awful!" Fluttershy huffed at Rainbow Dash as she walked back to her car. They had finished interviewing the other victims and had returned to the animal shelter parking lot.

"Eh?! What did I do?! Just because I didn't beat around the bush, you guys are acting like I'm the bad guy here?!" Rainbow protested. "Some friends you are!"

"Look who's talking, Rainbow Dash!" Rarity piped. "You accused Sunset of something we're all sure she would never do, especially now! Made her cry, and then just let her walk off into the cold! Poor dear must have been freezing by the time she made it home!"

"You are the bad guy here, RD. Whether you like it or not." Applejack agreed. "Don't need the rest  o' us to make ya look like it,"

"You know what?! Who needs you guys?!" Rainbow shouted defiantly.

"You! You need us! Just like Sunset needs all of us including you!" Fluttershy shouted, pointing at her and surprisingly getting in Rainbow's face. Which was something the girl never did. "We are a family! We are a team! A band for Christ's sake! It's about time we freaking act like it!"

The other girls stared awestruck at their meek friend as she shook in anger.

"We have elements to uphold," Fluttershy said in a quieter voice much closer to her own. "And right now you're going against yours. The Element of Loyalty would never turn her back on her friends. Even when she thinks they have done something wrong, she'd give them the benefit of the doubt."

Rainbow didn't respond. She just turned on her heel and left.

"Honestly! Walking away from your problems isn't always the answer! When will those two learn?!" Rarity sighed, folding her arms.

"Uh, we might have bigger problems on our hands," Applejack said worriedly, hopping out of the van. "We're missin' Pinkie."





Snow fell outside of Sunset's apartment as she paced her living room floor. Okay, I know what just happened wasn't a dream. But did I really sound like that?!  She pulled at her red and gold locks in frustration. She was a strong girl, but she wasn't that strong. She glanced at her ruined jacket. It looked like a bear had gotten to it. As much as she hated to admit, Rainbow might  be right. Maybe she was a life force sucking demon.

There was a knock on the door, and it startled her. She went to open it and found Pinkie shivering and wet in a thin hoodie. 

"Pinkie?! What on earth are you doing here?!" She barked, ushering the younger girl inside. She ran over to the thermostat and turned it up before turning back to her pink haired friend.

"Y-You left your bookbag in the tr-truck," Pinkie stuttered, holding up the black messenger bag. "I thought I'd bring it back to you so I walked."

"You walked all the way from the animal shelter?!" Sunset shouted. "Pinkie what in Equestria were you thinking?! You know how abnormal the weather is outside! You could have gotten hurt!"

"You could have too!" Pinkie shouted at her. "You could have collapsed or gotten hurt! But you didn't care!  You just walked off!" Pinkie pushed her angrily. "We could've taken care of Rainbow! You didn't have to leave!" She sobbed.

Sunset looked at the younger girl crestfallen. "I...I didn't think you all cared..." She mumbled, rubbing her arm.

"Of course we do! We're your friends!" Pinkie frowned. "Rainbow may be a jerk right now, but her behavior doesn't reflect how the rest of us feel about you!" She looked down at the ground. "Especially...especially me.."

Sunset's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

"I...I..Achoo!" Pinkie sniffled.

"Nevermind. We have to get you dry before you catch a cold." She shoved Pinkie into the bathroom. "Take a shower. When you're done, just shout for me."

Pinkie nodded and shut the door. 

Sighing, Sunset slumped on the couch. This is ridiculous. I need to find out what's wrong with me and fast. There's no way in hell I could have ripped my jacket like that without some kind of help. She would have left it to her adrenaline, but even adrenaline couldn't have done that.

Tiredly, she took out the book and wrote a quick note to Twilight.

Dear Princess Twilight,

Well, we know for sure it’s not just Windigos. It’s some demon thing. With black eyes and fiery red hair. That everyone thinks is me. It can’t be me. I’ve...I’ve changed. But since the last time I wrote to you, we found out that whatever is causing everyone to become sick is literally sucking the life force out of them. We still don’t know who exactly this demon is, but all signs point to me. Please tell me you have something that would discredit that. I can’t...I can’t have everyone thinking I’m evil again...

Yours in friendship, Sunset Shimmer.

She closed her eyes. Maybe what she needed was sleep. To get her mind off of things. As she drifted off, she could have sworn she heard the front door opening...





Twilight flipped through another stack of books on Equestria’s creatures. Nothing but Windigos seemed to be their best bet, but something told her that she should ask Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for any further information. Perhaps a peek into the Canterlot Archives wouldn’t hurt either. She sighed. She was getting involved again. But she couldn’t help it. Her friends were in danger. She couldn’t just sit around doing nothing. Twilight wasn’t a sit around and do nothing kind of mare. She wanted to trust Discord. She really did. Especially since he seemed to know what he was talking about.

But she hadn’t written to Sunset in a day, and it was killing her. Sunset hadn’t written to her either, and that made Twilight all the more worried. Were they in trouble? Did something happen? She wouldn’t know because nothing was happening! With a loud groan, Twilight jumped up from her throne and trotted out of the castle, much to the confusion of her friends.

Right into Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! What are you doing here?!” Twilight asked, eyes wide.

“Discord filled me in on what was going on,” The majestic white monarch responded. “He told me you were getting restless and that you weren’t having much luck in finding what could be affecting your mirror friends.” 

Twilight nodded. “We suspected Windigos, but that doesn’t seem to be all that’s going on here.” She let out a tired sigh as they walked back into the throne room. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do. I’ve looked through every book on weather causing monsters and monsters that cause illness.” 

Luna nodded at Celestia before turning back to Twilight. “Perhaps we can be of assistance? After all, we were around long before  all of these books,”

Suddenly, Twilight heard a buzzing coming from her throne. Knowing exactly what it was, she rushed over to it, and plucked out the vibrating tome with her magic. Opening it, she quickly read the message before dropping it, a terrified look on her face. “Oh no,” She whispered.

Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder. “What? What is it darling?” She asked, concerned.

Twilight looked at Celestia and Luna. “It’s more worse than we thought,”





Life force? No, she was too hungry for that. She needed the real stuff. She needed blood.

Sunset awoke with a start. Her breathing heavy. Looking around herself, she saw that she was still in her apartment. She felt like she had left, but in fact she hadn't at all.

That is, until she reached up to feel her face and found blood smeared across it. She tried not to scream, but the shock was too much. Quickly, she ran over to the kitchen sink and cleaned her face, trying to hold in the bile that was threatening to come up.

"I'm a monster. Rainbow was right, it is me." She sobbed as she watched the red liquid swirl down the drain. She pulled away from the sink and slid down the refrigerator.

"I'm a monster. I'm a monster. I'm a monster. I'm-"

"Sunny! Please! Sunset! Wake up!"

Sunset's gasped for air as she awoke, this time she knew it was for real because Pinkie was straddling her, shaking her by her shoulders.

"Oh thank god," Pinkie whispered, hugging her. "You were talking in your sleep."

"My...sleep? I was sleeping?" Sunset touched her face to find it free of blood, but not tears. She had been crying, and she guessed by the redness surrounding  Pinkie's cerulean eyes, she had been too.

"You were calling yourself a monster," Pinkie explained. "And you were crying. I found you like this after I had called you and you didn't respond."

Sunset looked down to see that Pinkie was laying on her in nothing but a towel. A towel that was slipping off by the minute. She could feel the younger girl's warm body through her thin t-shirt. Pinkie's wet hair curtained Sunset's face as they leaned  closely to each other. 

Sunset could feel Pinkie's heart beating rapidly, and a sort of excitement ran through her veins. Man, who knew Pinkie was so hot?

They locked eyes for a moment before they were both guilty of looking at each other's lips. 

Sunset pulled Pinkie closer by the small of her back, heart racing rapidly as she did so. 

Just as their lips were about to touch, the doorbell rang, making them jump apart.

Sunset coughed. "Um, I'll get it. You should probably go get dressed."

Pinkie nodded. "Uh, yeah." She stopped. "Sunset?"

"Yeah?"

"For the record, you're not a monster. A monster doesn't have a conscience or friends. Just saying." Pinkie told her before walking into the back.

Sunset opened the door and gasped. "Twilight?!"





"What do you mean, 'much worse than we thought'?" Applejack asked.

Twilight trotted over the stack of books and looked for the right one using her magic. When she found it, she flipped through the pages until she found the page she was looking for. "When Sunset first brought my crown over to that world, she cornered me in the hallway and said that I didn't know what happened to an Element of Harmony when it's brought to another world. I still don't. But I can infer what happens is what happened to Sunset,"

"You mean when she turned into that, that thing?" Fluttershy trembled, covering her eyes with her wings.

"Precisely. The description of what's attacking students now matches what she turned into, but I believe it's not Sunset. At least, not consciously." Twilight explained further.

"But I thought you and the other us took care of her evil baddie mojo!" Pinkie piped.

"We did. But something is trying to weave its tendrils into her heart again." Twilight told her. She pointed a hoof at the page she turned to. "I believe that is what we're dealing with."

The other girls leaned in and gasped.

"You're right! This is bad!" Pinkie shouted, putting her hooves in her mane.

> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset closed the door behind her and pushed Twilight into the nearby stairwell. "What are you doing here?! How did you find me?!"

Twilight pulled out the leather piece from her lab coat pocket. "A better question would be, how do you know my name?" She asked, arching a brow.

"Uh..." Sunset said, realizing she dug herself a hole. Angrily, she shoved Twilight against the  concrete wall behind her. "Look, I can't explain that right now, but I'll make you a deal. I have information on Canterlot High that you want, and you have technology I need. So, if you help me with what I need your magic detector for, I'll tell you everything I know about the magical happenings at Canterlot High."

Twilight scowled. "How do I know I can trust you? You aren't exactly a model student," She took not of the uneasy look on Sunset's face. "Oh yeah, I looked into your records. You were arrested at least three times since you started high school."

Sunset shook her head. "That doesn't matter now! I've changed! Look, the point is, time is running out and unless we strike this agreement now, the whole town, no, the entire world could be in danger!"

The younger girl gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about?!"

Sunset shifted from one foot to the other impatiently. "I'm talking about magic. Yeah, that stuff that you thought you were 'on to'? It's real. And right now there is something magical making everyone in our school sick! Without your magic detecting device we'd be pretty much in the dark!"

"We?" Twilight asked. Her eyes lit up. "You mean the five other magical units I detected?!" She turned away from Sunset before the older girl could answer. "Everything I've worked for until this moment...it wasn't for nothing..." She whispered. Then, she faced Sunset with a determined look. "Alright, I'll help you. Get the others and meet me at my laboratory."





"Maeva is a succubus like creature who was imprisoned in the other world for her crimes against Equestria." Twilight explained. "Apparently she rose to power shortly after The Dazzlings did."

"A succubus? Like, of the seducing kind?" Rarity asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Twilight shook her head. "Not exactly. She has a physical body, but it was damaged. After that, she learned how to posses ponies while they slept and steal the life force of other ponies around them."

"But didn't Tirek do the same thing?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash agreed. "He had those sucky powers too!"

Pinkie snorted with laughter. "Sucky powers! Hehe! You said sucky!"

"Tirek stole the magical energies from ponies. Maeva stole actual life force," Twilight explained. "She could make somepony so sick they'd die from a simple cold."

The other five gasped.

"I think when Sunset came in contact with the crown, her negative emotions towards Equestria and the Princesses drew power from Maeva. Which in turn aided in her becoming stronger." Twilight said, pointing at the illustration of a red and black pony like spirit.

"Like Tirek, she sucks energy out of ponies, but unlike The Dazzlings she doesn't feed off of fear and strife. She can just sense it, and thats what can lead her to her next hunt," Twilight lectured.

"So she's as if Tirek banged all three Dazzlings?" Rainbow questioned.

Rolling her eyes at the vulgarity of Dash's words, Twilight responded, "Yes, if you want the dumbed down obscene version." She placed the book down and turned to the Princesses. "Is there anything you both know about Maeva before she was banished by Starswirl?"

Celestia shook her head. "Not much. All that we know is recorded in that book. All though I do know if Sunset  doesn't find a way to stop her soon, she could very possibly have the entire world in her power."

Discord appeared out of nowhere in a spider like superhero costume. "Did someone say, power?" He asked, pulling off the mask as he hung from the ceiling.

Luna rolled her eyes. "Must you always make a titter out of everything?" She grumbled. "These are dire matters for Princess Twilight and her mirror friends."

"I know," Discord responded. He snapped his fingers and he returned to normal. He startled Fluttershy when he flashed over to her, resting an arm around her. "That's why I asked Purplebutt if I could help. You don't mind, do you Tia?" The chaos god raised a brow.

"Not all. In fact, I think we better get going. You seem to have everything under your control." She turned to Twilight and nuzzled her affectionately. "If you need anything, you know to send everything through Spike." She turned to the others. "Goodbye, girls!" She called before trotting out the door.

Luna on the other hand, stayed back for a moment to speak to Twilight. "Be heedful, Twilight Sparkle. Time is of the essence, but this must be handled with care. For Maeva is not the only enemy your friend Sunset Shimmer will face."

Twilight gave her a worried look. "What does that mean?"

"You will see in due time. I do not know of what Discord has told you, but listen to him. He may have known all along and decided to let you find out on your own first. And while he is very much a pain in the behind, he can be helpful when he wants to be." Luna smiled at her. "Take care, Princess Twilight."  And with that, she was gone.

A shiver ran down Twilight's back. She ran over to the book and began to write her letter.

Dear Sunset,

You are not a monster. No matter what anyone says. You have changed, and nothing anyone can say can nullify that. Thanks to your brief letter, we were able to discover what exactly is going on at Canterlot High. 

When you put on my crown and turned into that "she-demon", as you called it, you didn't actually turn into a she-demon. You borrowed powers from an evil succubus named Maeva. She rose to power shortly after The Dazzlings were banished, before she too was sent to your world herself.

The difference is, since she didn't have a physically strong body, she couldn't exactly feed. But the moment you put on my crown, she was drawn to your negative emotions and you awakened her powers in return for your body.

You may not know this, but Maeva thrives off jealousy and beauty. Back when she was a normal pony, she had fallen in love with a stallion who was a king. They were in love, but unfortunately the king married another mare behind her back. For revenge, she created an elixir that would kill the king and his new beautiful wife with dark magic. Unfortunately, the spell backfired and severely injured her physical body.

But due to the magical mishap, she gained the ability to suck the life force out of ponies and make them very sick. Tell me: Has anyone in your school looked a bit pale? The first sign of being attacked by her is pain in the lower abdomen. Then fatigue. The symptoms usually look like the common cold. If so, then we've cracked the case.

If you learn anything new, please get back to me as soon as possible. 

Yours in friendship, Twilight Sparkle

P.S.: Princess Luna told me that there was another enemy. I do not know of this enemy, but if you encounter them, please let me know and I'll assist in anyway I can.





The girls all met outside of Twilight's house after Sunset had explained the situation. 

Rainbow refused to look at Sunset and the feeling was mutual the other way around. And even though this wasn't the time for petty arguments, the occasional moments that they did lock eye contact, a middle finger would be raised or a tongue would be stuck out.

Twilight lead them through her house and down into the basement. A trip through a narrow hallway behind a bookshelf later, they were standing inside Twilight's lab. She adjusted her glasses and told them all to sit. 

Sunset stood next to Twilight with a slight frown on her face. She wasn't sure the other girl could be trusted yet, but didn't let it show. The last thing she needed was this deal to be over.

"Alright. First, I'm going to need a DNA sample from each of you," Twilight said, handing each girl a plastic bag.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, you didn't say anything about DNA. That wasn't apart of the agreement, Sparkle." Sunset told her, arms crossed.

"Relax, Phoenix Wright. It's just security." Twilight explained. "Just in case you all don't hold up your end of the bargain and decide to flee the country or something."

"Well you can count on me not doing that," Rarity said, wincing as she plucked a hair from atop her head. She put it in the bag and handed the bag off to Twilight. 

The others did the same.

"Now, I don't know much about what's going on, but I know it's magic related," Twilight said, pacing back and forth. "Sunset filled me in on only what I needed to know." 

Sunset held up the book. "About twenty minutes after I had texted you all, Twilight sent me a message. Apparently I was right. The Windigos aren't our problem,"

"Then what is?" Fluttershy asked.

"A succubus named Maeva. Apparently when I put on Twilight's crown, I had awoken her then dormant powers unknowingly." Sunset explained.

"Back in ancient times, the Greeks believed redheaded women to be vampires, or life sucking beasts in general," Twilight lectured. "The timeline of when Maeva entered our world must match up with almost a thousand years ago."

"Just like The Dazzlings?" Applejack asked.

"Precisely." Sunset nodded. She then went on to explain the origin of Maeva.

"How come all our villains are sexy chicks with chips on their shoulders?" Rainbow Dash asked, drumming on her rib cage. She stopped when she realized she had indirectly called Sunset sexy. She coughed. "I mean...uh...why do they all have to be some type of pretty?"

"Nice save," Applejack told her in a sardonic tone, her smug smile infuriating the other girl. "Got any info on how to defeat this Maeva gal?"

"Nope." Sunset responded, shaking her head.

"The symptoms we saw in Flash matched up with the ones from the other three victims," Pinkie reported.

"And those descriptions matched the symptoms Twilight described." Sunset added. "Which means that this Maeva chick really is our culprit."

Twilight pushed her glasses up on her face before she began typing furiously on her computer. "You all know of four victims right? And they all go to your school, correct?" 

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"What if she got to people who weren't in your school? Or, maybe people you didn't notice were gone?" Twilight continued typing before she settled on a single page. It was a file from the Canterlot Hospital containing the names of students diagnosed with a mysterious illness the past six weeks.

"She hasn't just been going at it this week,  she's been doing this for almost over a month. You all hadn't noticed because of The Dazzlings and the Battle of The Bands. She used that distraction to have an all you can eat buffet."

Applejack's eyes scanned the screen. "Some of these kids have been in the hospital for weeks with these symptoms. Why would Celestia and Luna only tell us about three kids?"

Sunset thought for a moment. "She wanted to throw us off," She whispered. "Think about it, we were already distracted by The Dazzlings, and she used that to her advantage. She let the last four victims be known so that we could start an investigation thinking that this whole thing just started out of the blue."

"But how would she throw Celestia and Luna off? They're the ones who told us about this whole thing," Rarity reasoned.

"Remember, Twilight said she could posses bodies." Sunset reminded them. "She's grown stronger since I had awoken her powers, and that could mean that she can now take control of multiple bodies at the same time."

"I knew it!" Rainbow cheered.

"Yeah, out of the four hundred and twelve other times you were wrong," Applejack teased.

"Shut up, hayseed!"

"Girls!" Fluttershy scolded them. "Now is not the time!"

"Anyway, what exactly is the plan? Do we even know what this Maeva looks like?" said Rarity.

"Nope. And that's the scary part. Maeva could be anyone right now. Even...even one of us," A shiver ran down Sunset's back. 

"The description they all saw matches up with what Sunset turned into. So the obvious answer has to be her,” Fluttershy said. She put a hand on her friend. “No offense.”

Sunset shrugged. “None taken.” An idea occurred to her. “Hey...Twilight, do you have one of those little cameras you can attach to someone?”

“Like a GoPro sports camera?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah, those,” The older girl turned back to Twilight, waiting for an answer.

“My brother does. He has a smaller one though. He uses it for when he goes LARPing or whatever,” Twilight responded, pushing her glasses up on her face. “I may have borrowed it for an experiment earlier this week. Why? What do you need it for?”

Sunset cracked her knuckles. “For the past few weeks I haven’t been able to get a good nights sleep. But for some reason when Pinkie stayed the night yesterday, I slept perfectly fine...”

“Could it be the position you two were sleeping in?” Rainbow teased, earning her a surprisingly hard punch in the arm courtesy of Pinkie herself.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “I’m being serious. What if she’s only able to get inside my head when I’m not conscious because I can’t fight back and I'm alone? Maybe that’s why the headaches stopped! Because she knew that we’d suspect there was something wrong with me and I’d get myself checked out!”

“Are you sure that’s what’s going on here?” Fluttershy asked her, eyebrows furrowed.

“Only way to find out.” Sunset said rolling her neck. “Here’s the plan. Twilight, I need you to attach the camera to me in a place she’d least look. I have a feeling she’ll be paying close attention to what we do from now on,”

She turned to the other five girls. “You all stay here and keep each other alert. Twilight needs someone at all times to keep her awake.”

“Whoo-wee. Ah got me a bad feelin’ ‘bout this, sugarcube. You sure you don’t need one o’ us ta stay with you?” Applejack asked Sunset sternly, as if she was spelling out one plus one equals two to a four year old.

Sunset sighed, and laughed nervously, running a hand through her hair. "The only way we can find out anything for sure is if we do this. We at least have to try.”

Twilight clipped the camera to Sunset’s shirt and set it up a live feed from the camera to her computer so that whatever the camera saw, she saw as well in real time. “Okay,” She said after double checking everything. “You’re all set.”

“Let’s get settled in, girls. Looks like we’re gonna be here for a while.” Applejack sighed, sitting crosslegged on the floor with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie. 

Rarity opted for a chair instead of voluntarily getting her skirt dirty. 

They all said goodbye to Sunset and watched on the live feed as she made her way home.

Not much else happened after that. It was just their friend doing boring and mundane things. Like taking out the trash, washing the dishes, cleaning up, etc. Things that made the girls themselves tired just watching Sunset do them.

Finally, after a few hours, the older girl started showing signs of fatigue. Within a matter of minutes, she was in her room, snoring soundly. 

The other girls had fallen victim to sleep themselves as well. With Twilight slouched over her keyboard, Applejack leaning back to back with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy curled up in her lap like a cat. Rarity’s head lolled back in the chair quite unlady like, drool dripping out the side of her mouth. Pinkie was laid out on the examination table, snoring loudly.

They all missed when Sunset, or rather, Maeva, began to stir.

Her red and gold hair fell over her face in loose, wild curls. She yawned, chuckling satisfactorily when she looked down at herself. I gotta say, for an insufferable brat, she has a nice body. She stretched, and rose from the bed.

After a wardrobe change from that horrible skirt into a hip hugging pair of black jeans and some leather boots, She walked out into the living room and reached for her leather jacket, but frowned when she saw the gaping hole in it. What in the hell happened to that thing? It looks like an ursa used it as a chew toy. She pulled out a fresh leather jacket out from the closet and left out the door, not bothering to lock it.

The loud slam of the door woke Fluttershy, and she blinked awake, her vision blurry from sleep. She looked around herself to see that the other girls were still knocked out. She stood up on her feet, and walked drowsily over to the computer. She gasped when she saw Sunset driving through the streets of Canterlot on her motorcycle.

Panicking, she began to yell for her friends. “Girls!” She said, raising her voice. “Girls!” She said a little bit louder, but because of her soft voice it was barely above a whisper. “Oh! Curse my gentle voice!” She pouted. With as much force as she could muster, she drew in a deep breath and whistled with her two fingers.

The sound was surprisingly loud, and startled the other five girls awake.

“Is it breakfast time, Mommy?” Dash mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

“Mommy! Haha!” Pinkie snorted, kicking her feet. The banging on the metal beneath her feet made Rarity snap her head up. 

Quickly wiping the saliva from the side of her mouth, the fashionista whipped around to glare at Pinkie Pie.

“Girls! We have more important pressing issues here than the uncharacteristic choice of the term of endearment Rainbow uses for her mother! Like the fact that Maeva is in Sunset’s body right now!” The meek girl yelled, stomping her foot.

“What?!” Twilight shouted, falling out of her chair. She righted herself and began typing furiously into her computer. "My GPS says she's headed towards Crystal Point. Why is she going to the beach?"

"Ah'm guessing it ain't to play volleyball," Applejack responded. "Ya'll thinkin' what Ah'm thinkin'?" She asked, turning to the girls.

"That The Dazzlings never actually left and that they became lackeys of Maeva to survive since we took away their magic?" Rainbow Dash guessed.

The others gave her incredulous looks.

She frowned. "What? I pay attention. I can infer things as much as you all can," She snapped defensively.

"Just barely," Applejack commented, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "And anyway, how are we sure she ain't meetin' up with the Windigos that's been helping her with the weather this whole time?"

"We don't," Twilight replied, pushing up her glasses. "Which is why we should stop bickering and pay attention to what's going on on the screen," 

Maeva stepped off the motorcycle after parking it on the abandoned boardwalk. Taking off her helmet, she shook her locks free. "Where are those idiots?" She grumbled, stomping off towards a dimly lit cave.

Twilight couldn't see much, so she activated the night vision mode on the camera.

At the lip of the cave there appeared to be a small form sitting in a patch of sand, hugging itself. Maeva stopped in front of it,bending down to speak.

The five girls behind Twilight gasped as the camera focused on the figure, making its face clear.

"Oh my word! That's, that's Sonata!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Which means if she's there, then Adagio and Aria aren't far behind!" Fluttershy agreed.

"Well Ah'll be! It's a cold day in hell! Rainbow Dash was right twice in the same day!" Applejack said.

"Where are the other two?" Maeva asked.

Sonata didn't look up. She jabbed a finger towards the inside of the cave. "In there," She replied in a quiet, broken voice.

"Good girl."

Maeva traveled deeper into the cave, revealing little else for the moment.

When Twilight noticed the signs of a fire, she switched the night mode off. She had to hold back a strangled cry when she saw what was in the room.

The remaining two if the three former Sirens were huddled up against the fire, teeth chattering as they tried to get warmth. 

They wore worn, tattered clothes that barely did anything to keep the abnormally cold air out.

"Look at you both!" Maeva laughed. "Look at what has become of Aquastria's once great Sirens! I expected you three to be living lavish lives! Not in this, this squalor!" She said, gesturing towards them.

"A group of teenage girls did this to you!" Maeva continued. "You couldn't even take care of one of them!" She smirked when she saw the look on their faces. "You stare at me like I have a thousand heads," She sat down next to them. "You stare, because I have done what you weren't able to do!

"I have taken control of one of their own. And without little Miss Shimmer, their elements are useless!" 

She smirked when she saw the interest in their eyes. "Oh, but don't worry. I have a plan so that you three can reclaim your former glory."

"Oooh! This is bad! This is really bad!" Pinkie whispered as if they could hear her.

"You're telling me! We have to do something about this!" Rainbow proclaimed, getting up.

Applejack pulled her back down. "And just what would that be? Last time Ah checked she's a powerful being in our friend's body. We can't hurt her because then we'd be hurting Sunset too."

Rainbow wriggled her hand free, irritated. "Well we can't just  do nothing!"

"We need to get a message to Twilight!" Fluttershy said. "And fast!"


> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What should we write?!" Pinkie questioned.

"Do you think it would work with us?" Rarity wondered.

"What if Sunset's magic is what activates the book?!" Rainbow cried.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Fluttershy answered them all. She took a deep breath. "Dear Princess Twilight..."





Bzzzt.

Twilight turned over in her sleep.

Bzzzt.

"Five more minutes, Spike," She mumbled. 

Bzzzt! 

"Fine! Fine!" Twilight groaned. "I'm up!" She slammed a hoof down on her alarm clock but was confused when she realized the buzzing hadn't stopped. Realizing that wasn't her alarm clock but the book, she scrambled over to her desk and picked it up with her magic.

Dear Twilight,

Oh dear, where do we start? Well, for one thing this is Fluttershy writing to you and not Sunset. Sunset's kind of... busy. Well not busy, but long story short, she's being possessed by Maeva. She's planning something with The Dazzlings, (who are still alive but just barely by the way) and we don't know what it is. She said something about returning them to their former glory.

And Sunset wanted to do this all by herself, because she said we all can't call on you for help all the time because you're a princess but this is an emergency. We don't know if Maeva has full control or is just using her body at night. We think it might be affecting Sunset too...she had fainted from not eating, she's been getting these really awful headaches, and she's been really irritable. We all thought that you might be able to help. Though I don't think you should come through the portal. Your double from our world is helping us and we don't know how you two meeting or even being in the same room would affect both dimensions.

But since time is now running out and we're powerless without you or Sunset, I think that's the least of our problems. Please respond when you can! We think she's going to do something truly awful!

Yours in friendship, Fluttershy


Twilight's eyes bulged. "Oh no no no no!" She said, rummaging through her desk draw for her quill. She didn't want to wake Spike so she tried to make as little noise as possible. When she found it, she furiously began writing.

Dear Fluttershy,

Thank you for making me aware of the situation. I was unaware of the other things affecting Sunset. This is bad. This is really, really bad. I was reading up on Maeva again last night and I found out that if she becomes powerful enough, she can perform a spell that will cause the host to lose control of their body completely. Forever most likely. And I think that’s her plan. If she has one of the Elements out of commission permanently, she has all of you out of commission. Her getting a new body is just a bonus.


If she’s able to stay in Sunset’s body until she has full control, not only will we lose Sunset forever, Maeva will now have a new permanent body to do as she pleases.


This is something we need to discuss in person. I’m coming through the portal. Meet me at the school in fifteen minutes.


Yours in friendship, Twilight Sparkle.







Maeva grinned at the passed out Sirens in front of her. Her plan was coming together perfectly. Once she got those brats out of the way, this world would be hers and there would be no one standing in her way.


All she had needed was a little more power. Just enough for her to be able to perform the ritual of her needs. This world didn't have as much as Equestria, but thanks to that pocket of magical energy opened by those teens and the way that it affected their fellow students, she had had an all you can eat buffet.


Once she performed the ritual, she'd have this body forever, and this world would be under her control.


She wished she hadn't strung the Sirens along, especially since they were eons older than her, but she knew that the last of their Equestrian magic was exactly what she needed. She technically wasn't lying. They were going to return to their former glory.


Through her.


Now it was time to get this show on the road.







Being on school property in the middle of the night was a first for all of the girls as they stood in front of the horse statue waiting for their other worldly friend.


The ride over in Rarity's sedan had been an awkward one, what with explaining to Twilight of meeting her counterpart.


There was a nervous edge of excitement (Pinkie called it being "nervicited",) in the air as the clock struck ten.


They knew nothing of what could happen when Twilight meet Twilight face to face. They knew nothing of what Twilight's reaction to Princess Twilight would be and vice versa. (Even though Science Twilight had taken the whole pony thing pretty well.)


The portal began to ripple, and then out stepped Twilight, wobbling a bit as she stood up. Instead of her usual dorky smile, there was a serious frown on her face. She had something in her hand that looked like an old tome. "Hello girls," She greeted.


"Fascinating! She even has my voice!" Scientist Twilight gushed, a hand on her chin as she examined Twilight. "You should not be possible! You are not scientifically possible!"


"Actually, magic aside, I was reading up on the findings of your scientists in this world and found that parallel words are indeed possible." Princess Twilight explained seriously but couldn't help crack a smile. "This is so cool!"


"Uh, sorry to break up the nerd fest, but we have bigger problems." Dash piped, reminding them all of the matter at hand.


"Though I am glad the whole rip in the time space continuum thing didn't happen," Rarity commented.


"Right." Twilight nodded. “I was thinking we could camp out here at the school. She’s likely to come back here to perform the spell because it’s the place where she got most of her energy from.”


“Oh! School sleepover!” Pinkie cheered. “I have just the thing for such emergencies too!” She reached into her hair and pulled out a key. “I always keep a spare pair of jammies in the janitors closet for all of us!”


Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion. “Why?”


“Because you never know when a spontaneous sleepover will happen, silly billy!” Pinkie teased, booping the meek girl on the nose playfully.


“What?!” Science Twilight asked.


Rainbow put a hand on her shoulder. “Try not to think about it too hard. That’s just Pinkie being good ol’ Pinkie.”


They entered the school, the feeling of being there long after the last of the teachers and students had left making them a little antsy. They followed Princess Twilight to the library after stopping by the janitors closet to get flashlights and the spare pajamas Pinkie had stored in there.


Once they made it to the upstairs portion of the library, they set up camp and Princess Twilight set down the tome that she had brought through the portal with her.


“I was worried it wouldn’t transition well, but it seems like nothing has changed,” She said, opening the large leather bound book.

“Ah’ve been meanin’ ta ask. What the hay is that?” Applejack said, pointing to the book. “It looks really old and it’s kind of creepy.”


“It’s a journal on dark magic written by Clover the Clever and Starswirl the Bearded. They are like the Einstein of my world,” Twilight explained. “I found it deep within the Canterlot archives. Celestia and Luna had told me that they knew next to nothing about Maeva, but something told me that there was more to this than what was publicly known, even to the higher ups like the Princesses,” She turned to a particular page in the journal.


“There were mentions of King Sombra, another monster from my world who used dark magic to enslave ponies. Him and the entire kingdom of the Crystal Empire were sealed away to prevent him from spreading his evil tyranny. It wasn’t until my sister in law Cadence, with the help of my dragon assistant Spike, returned the Crystal Heart to it’s rightful place did he cease to exist.” There was a solemn look on her face as she spoke, the glow of the flashlights surrounding her making her face look hard and ominous.


“Not even gonna ask about the whole dragon thing.” Science Twilight said. “But okay, how is this going to help us with Maeva?” 


“Yeah! Can’t we blast her with the same stuff we blasted Sunset with? The Elements could take care of her sorry butt lickety split!” Dash agreed, pounding her fist.


“That’s what I meant to tell you guys. My friends and I gave our Elements back to The Tree of Harmony. It was dying, and without the Elements, it would have been lost forever,” Princess Twilight told them with a sigh. “That’s also why I brought this, to see if we could find any hint of how they defeated her. Starswirl and Clover worked together to defeat her long before the Elements existed. If they could do it before, who’s to say we can’t do it again?”

“I’m wondering exactly what she needs The Dazzlings for...” Rarity spoke up. “It’s not like they could be of any use. Those poor dears, I know they’ve caused so much trouble for us, but that doesn’t mean they should live in filth!”


Twilight raised her brows. “What are you talking about?”


“We strapped a camera to Sunset a few hours ago because she believed Maeva was able to get full control when she was asleep. It turns out it was true, and she had rode Sunset’s bike all the way out to Crystal Point.” Fluttershy explained.


“And there we saw The Dazzlings covered in dirt in ragged clothing, huddled up together by a fire! Oh, It was absolutely horrible to watch!” Rarity wailed, fainting onto her sleeping bag.


“She’s playing on their insecurities,” Science Twilight concluded.


“Huh?” Everyone asked.


“Think about it. She went to them, and told them she could return them to their ‘former glory’,” She explained making air quotes with her fingers. “That can’t be good. From what we’ve seen, Maeva only seems to care about herself. And if that’s any indication of her personality, well, let’s just say those Sirens are in some deep doodie.”


“We don’t know how powerful she has become though. How do we know what she’s going to do with them?” Applejack asked.


Science Twilight snapped her fingers. “The jacket! Sunset had gotten her leather jacket snagged on a fence and left a piece on it. I collected it and brought it back to my lab to collect Sunset’s DNA, but also when I tested it again, it said there was exponential levels of magical energy. She’s powerful, sure, but not enough. She needs just a bit more to get her where she needs to be. And who better than three former Equestrian creatures themselves!”


Princess Twilight paled. “You’re not saying she-”


Science Twilight nodded curtly. “Yes, I’m saying she used the Sirens as a last meal. She sacrificed them to gain the last bit of energy she needs to perform that ritual. And if the sudden change of weather is of any indication, the time for her spellcasting has come.” 





Sunset awoke in a bright room of nothingness. There was nothing but endless space and the floor and ceiling above her. She didn’t exactly remember what had happened. All she knew was that she had went home and fell asleep. She had no idea how long she had been out, but she knew that she wasn’t awake. At least, not consciously. 


So she is controlling me at the moment, She thought, her eyes scanning around. Was this her prison? Was this where she always went when Maeva was in control? Or was this new because of all the new magical energy surging through her veins? 


Whatever the case, she was here now and something was very, very wrong. Suddenly, the room shifted, and morphed into an abandoned and dilapidated version of the school with windows broken, bricks falling, and wind howling through the open hallways. It was eerie to say the least.


Sunset found herself sitting in a lone student’s desk in front of a teacher’s desk with the big leather chair turned all the way around. She would have thought no one was in it if it weren’t for the eerie and distorted whistle of her song from the Battle of the Bands. 

“Nice song you got there,” Whoever was in the chair said. 


The voice sounded close. Too close. Close to her own and she didn’t like it. Chills ran up her spine as her heart began to race, sweat starting to cling to her. “Show yourself!” She shouted at the chair, standing up. She flexed her fists as the chair swiveled around, and felt her stomach drop to the floor once she saw who was sitting in it.


Right there, in front of her, was herself. Not just any version of herself, but the thing she turned into at the Fall Formal.


The negative copy grinned manically as Sunset stood frozen with fright. “Well, well, well. Long time no see, eh?”


> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Equestria,  two thousand years ago, B.B (Before Banishment)

"You knew I loved you! You knew and yet you strung me along!" Maeva shouted, stomping down a red hoof. Before her was the stallion she loved. Or, thought she did, at least before this very moment.

"Please! You and I both know that this was nothing more than a small fling!" King Samos said, stomping his hoof. "Why would I want some love struck child as my wife? You're not fit to be a queen!"

"Is that so?!" Maeva snarled. "Why don't you look a bit closer at your so called fling?"

King Samos squinted and realized that Maeva was transparent, and that she wasn't touching the ground. His eyes widened. "W-What are you?!" He demanded, backing up against his throne.

"I am the mare who loved you! The mare who loved you, defended you, and cared for you!" Maeva shouted. She grinned, jagged teeth showing themselves as she saw the raw fear in his eyes. "And now the mare who will kill you! Haha!"





"Who are you?! What do you want?! Why am I here?!" Sunset demanded.

"All good questions that will be answered in good time," Demonset said, folding her hands. "But if you must absolutely know, I am the embodiment of every single evil, negative and rude thought you've ever had. I am the personification of your old ambitions." She laughed. "To put it simply, I am you. I am what you became."

"No, you're not me!" Sunset barked, a lump in her throat. "I've changed!"

"Oh? Have you?" Demonset sat herself on the tattered teacher's desk. "Do tell me what you've done as this, 'new and improved' Sunset Shimmer."

"I've....I've made friends!" 

Demonset laughed. "Have you? Because last time I checked the entire school hated you and your so called 'friends' were doing this as a favor to Princess Twilight." She walked over to Sunset and put a hand under her chin. "Face it, Shimmer. You've never changed. You just decided to push aside all those good feelings of domination and power just so you could live in this fantasy world of friendship." She laughed.

"You're wrong!" Sunset protested, albeit weakly.

"Am I? Don't you remember how good it felt to finally have that crown on your head? The one that should have been yours in the beginning? The one that was given to some secondrate brat instead? Don't you remember the power surging through you?! The fear in their eyes as they saw you for the monster you truly are?!"

"I am not a monster!" Sunset screamed, tears stinging in her eyes.

Demonset chuckled. "Crying already?" She teased, a edge of venom to her voice. She frowned, throwing Sunset back down in the student's desk. "What happened to 'you're never gonna bring me down' and all that other crap you were spewing to those Sirens, huh? What happened to that? Pathetic. You're not reformed in the slightest and you know it. You thirst for power just as much as she does."

Sunset breathed heavily. "S-She? Who's she?!"

Demonset grinned. "Maeva of course. And after tonight, she'll have all the power she could ever want. With the help of your body of course."

"What are you talking about?!" Sunset barked at her.

"Soon Maeva will have full control of your body. And then you'll be able to stay here all alone and watch as she uses you to fulfill your past desires and destroy your friends." Demon set said, getting in Sunset's face.

The scenery changed again, and this time they were in a dark room with no windows.

Sunset realized that she was hanging; painfully so, and that Demonset was in front of her with a whip. Cold, hard fear she hadn't felt in a long time washed over her body as she saw the whip being raised and then sting her body with its unforgiving slap. 





"How exactly do we know what we're looking for in here?" Science Twilight asked her counterpart as they both looked through Starswirl's journal.

"To be honest, I don't exactly know." Princess Twilight answered sheepishly. "Maybe just some indication of how he and Clover the Clever defeated Maeva."

"Is anything known about the ritual Maeva will perform tonight?" Rarity asked.

"Not really," Princess Twilight answered her. "At least I don't think so. She isn't pre-Royal Sisters, so there should be something on her, but anything about her has probably faded into myth with her being gone for so long."

"What does she need Sunset's body for?" Fluttershy asked.

"A physical body to call her own. Coincidentally, Sunset's body is quite similar to her own. Plus she's a powerful unicorn, so Maeva can use that to her advantage." Princess Twilight explained.

"What if she decides to go through the portal? You know, to get revenge?" Dash said, drumming on her ribs.

"She doesn't know the portal exists. She doesn't even know that there are two more princesses. She's been here for over a thousand years. So she's a little in the dark." Princess Twilight smirked. Her eyebrows furrowed when she saw a sticky note posted to the middle of one of the pages in the book.

Did you really think the answer would be in here? Ha! Try again, purplebutt! -Discord

She removed the note and read it. She frowned. "Why that conniving little-" 

"Uh, Twilight, you alright there sugarcube? Yer kinda mumbling to yerself," Applejack told her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Twilight smiled faintly at her. "Never better!" As soon as the other girl turned her back, the frown returned and she crumpled up the note. So much for that. She knew that Discord had told her to not get involved, but this was a serious matter and just remembering how worried Fluttershy had sounded in her letter, it made her even more concerned.

Sure the only person who could possibly take down Maeva from the inside out was Sunset, but who knows what could be happening to her right now, in her own subconscious? And what about that other enemy Luna told her about? Was that just a figurative thing or was there really another Equestrian villain on the lose?

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Princess Twilight buried her nose in the journal. Now was not the time for freak outs. She had to focus.





Maeva parked Sunset's bike in front of the school. It was almost time. She looked at her watch. It was twelve am. Which meant if she wanted to get this done, she was going to have to hurry up and get it done soon.

She slung a duffle bag full of candles onto her shoulder and walked up to the exact spot where Sunset had put on Twilight's crown, thus awakening her powers. She set down all of the candles in a circle and lit them with a match.

Then she sat in the circle Indian style, eyes closed. This was it. After tonight she'd be the ruler of this world and nothing would be standing in her way. Taking deep, slow, breaths, she started reciting a spell in a tongue long forgotten.

The ritual had begun.


> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A tingle ran up Princess Twilight's spine and she shivered. She didn't know why, but she had a really bad feeling. The other girls in the room with her couldn't feel it of course, but being a highly skilled unicorn and a powerful alicorn, she could feel a slight buzz in the air. As if someone was drawing power from the world around them.

As of someone was performing a spell.

Then, it hit her.

She jumped up urgently, making the other girls look at her. "She's here. She's here, right now, performing that spell."

"Wha- Already?!" Science Twilight demanded, scrambling to her feet herself. "But we haven't even found out a way to stop her! How are we going to intercept an ancient ritual we know nothing about without getting killed?!"

There was a soft knock on the library door, and Pinkie cautiously went over to it. Opening it, she watched as three badly worn bodies fell in through the doorway.

"Oh my gum drops!" She exclaimed, bending down to help Adagio up. "It's the Sirens!"

"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked. "We can't just leave them here! They're dying!"

Princess Twilight took charge. "Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity. You stay here and tend to their wounds. Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie, follow me." She said walking towards the door.

"We have a succubus to destroy."





Outside of the school, Maeva smirked as she felt the dark power surging around her. Soon she would have a new body, a young one that she could use to hunt. And soon this world would be hers. Equestria too. She laughed.

Yes, it was only a matter of time.

She heard the school doors open and whipped her head around to see that Sunset's meddling friends had come to save the day.

She stood up in the enchantment circle. "You're too late!" She bellowed. "Soon that low life unicorn's body will be mine and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"We're gonna kick your sorry ass, Maeva!" Rainbow declared, taking a fighting stance.

"How vulgar. I'd like to see you try. How on earth are you going to destroy me and save your precious friend? We're one in the same now!"

"Shit, she's right!" Rainbow shouted. "If we hurt her, we hurt Sunset too!"

A dark laugh left the succubus's mouth. "It seems that you're in a bit of a pickle. Not like friendship can save you now."

"Oh yes it will!" Pinkie challenged with a hard look on her face. "Just watch you meanie! Sunset's gonna come out and kick your butt!"

Maeva snorted. "Yes. We'll see." She noticed that the other Elements weren't with them. She grinned. "In the mean time..." 

Black tendrils of dark magic snaked from her hands and wrapped themselves around the three young girls in front of her.

Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash had jumped out of the way in time, but unfortunately for Pinkie, she had moved too late.

She shrieked as the magic wrapped around her. "Let me go!" she demanded, but her plea fell on deaf ears.

"What's your plan anyway? To take over Equestria?!" Rainbow barked.

"Been there, done that!" Maeva cackled. "But I wouldn't mind having a few human slaves."

"You won't win!" Twilight told her.

"Oh? Amd who exactly is going to stop me?"

"Sunset! That's who!" Pinkie yelled. 

Maeva's laughed louder. "How is she supposed to stop me?! She's trapped deep within her own body and she can't even control it! She doesn't stand a chance! A few moments from now she'll be nothing more than a memory!"






"Urgh!" Sunset groaned as yet another cut was made into her body by Demonset. No matter how much she whipped her, no matter how much Demonset abused her in the past twenty minutes, (or so she thought, she couldn't really tell with all the pain,) she wasn't going to give in. 

Not yet.

"It's so cute how you think ny simple will power I'll just go away," Demonset said with a chuckle. "You see Sunset, you may not like it, but I am you. You are me. You are a monster. You are nothing but a power hungry little bitch who can't seem to remember why she fled to this world. You weren't here to make friends. Friends was the last thing on your mind. Now all of a sudden everything is sunshine and rainbows for you?! Ha!"

Sunset grit her teeth.

"You're pathetic. If it were up to me, I'd kill you and take over your body myself." Demonset smacked her hard. "Are you even sure that those girls really are your friends?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Despite the beating she had taken, Sunset's voice was firm, unwavering.

Demonset snorted. "Of course you do. You're living a fantasy. You're nothing more than a failure. You're a sniveling little bitch. They aren't your friends. No one wants you. Not even Celestia herself! Stop living under the illusion that people actually care about you! You're nothing more than a failure!"

"You don't know anything about me!" Sunset shrieked.

"Do I?!" Demonset barked back. "Or have you forgotten that we are the same person?! Face it, Sunset Shimmer! You are a worthless little shit!"

"You're wrong!" Sunset shouted. Her hair stuck to her face from the blood and sweat that covered it. "You're wrong," She repeated, looking at her captor. Something strong began to rise in her heart. A warm feeling encompassed her, a strong knowing one. it was if she was getting a hug from all of her friends all at once as their power radiated on to her. Things that were once fuzzy to her made sense now. She could feel it. 

She knew what her element was.

"I am the Element of Redemption."

With the utterance of those words, the chains that held Sunset broke. She fell to the floor with a soft thud. Wobbly, she stood up as red and gold magic swirled around her, healing her injuries.

"Impossible!" Demonset growled. "You're not an element bearer!"

Sunset looked her demonic self straight in the eye. "Yes I am. I am a phoenix reborn from my ashes. I am Sunset Shimmer, Element of Redemption and I will not let you bring me down." A soft tune started within her, something that seemed familiar.

"My past is not today," Sunset said, the song on her heart reaching a crecendo. "You're right about one thing. You are apart of me. But you aren't me. Because I am a brand new person. And I won't let you or Maeva have my body!"

"Do you really think some silly little speech is going to make me cower in fear?!" Demonset bellowed. "Taking lessons from Twilight Sparkle I see," she laughed dryly. She flew across the room had punched Sunset in the gut, making her spit blood. "Enough with the friendship bullshit. It's even more ridiculous when you say it."

"That's what I would have said a few months ago," Sunset weezed. "Sure, this may all seem like crap, but at least I have friends now. People want to be around me because I've shown them another side to me that no one can deny." She glared at Demonset. "And I'm not about to let you take that from me!"

The red and gold magic swirled around her again, producing phoenix like wings behind her back and an amulet around her neck that had a jade jewel in the shape of her cutie mark.

Sunset raised her hand towards herself. "You have shown me what I could have become if I had let my drive corrupt me. You are nothing more than a memory now. You no longer exist."

"What?!" Demonset said. "You can't just-"

"Oh, but I can," Sunset said, closing her eyes with a smirk. "Be gone! You no longer have a purpose!"

With a flash, the evil version of herself was gone. And with it, left all doubt in her mind. She flexed her fingers and took a deep breath.

"I am no monster."

"I am a hero of my own story."