//------------------------------// // Sunset Society: The Greatest Detective Part One // Story: The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer // by ratedoni //------------------------------// “I still can’t believe you own something like this,” the girl with puffy orange hair -which let’s be sincere, made almost half of her body weight- said as she and the rest of what was left of the siren species looked around the ell equipped room made out of shiny metal and who knows how many contraptions. Alongside her, the other two girls watched and inspected the many different gadgets and weapons lined against the wall. For some reason it was very nostalgic, maybe because it reminded them of the training hall back when they lived on Aquastria hundreds of years ago. The time they lived at the home of the now Free Nation of Aquastria seemed like a dream for the three sirens. Almost like another life that they sometimes remembered sounds and faces, but no real story behind them. After being send into another dimension that for some reason also pushed them into the future, they simply got used to the new world they lived on, maybe a little too much. Looking at their new host, they knew that once they would have hated her guts, after all she was the instrument of their fall of grace. It was none other than Sunset Shimmer. But to be sincere, after living as a normal human being -or as normal as they could- they found out the pros of not having to create riots just to stay alive and having a clear mind for the first time in who knows how many centuries, completely beat the supposed immortality their gems had granted them. “What can I say? Good investment,” The redhead on the other room said as she began to type orders on a console. She hadn’t changed much since the last time they met each other, only a couple of years and Sunset Shimmer was not the same thin girl that Adagio and the rest had battled on the Battle of the Bands. Instead, this Sunset Shimmer had become a woman, with a body that seemed taken from classic Greek art. Sinuous and powerful, Sunset Shimmer had not only a great body, but a confidence that made the redhead so different that the sirens had stood in awe the first time she saw the new Sunset Shimmer. “How did you get your hands on this kind of place? Because, really, I don’t think you bought it,” The twin tails of Aria were as iconic as the curly mass of orange hair of Adagio, it was probably one of the things that made her so easy to recognize after these few years. “I didn’t buy it, I found it,” Looking through the glass into the training room Sunset sighed knowing that it would not be enough “it belonged to an organization called Project Cadmus. It was created with the idea of studying meta-human genetics. It wasn’t long until they began to create their own. You can guess how it ended.” Sunset said looking at the information appearing on one of the monitors. Meanwhile, the sirens looked at each other wondering in what exactly they had gotten themselves into. “Wait, I think I remember something about that appearing on the news.” “And since when do you watch the news Sonata?” It may have been a classic line by Aria, but even the redhead could detect more teasing than caustic in it. “It beats cartoons these days, have you seen how bad the new cartoons are? For shame!” “Sonata’s taste for animation aside, she is right,” Adagio said looking at the other side of the glass and at the woman who was their host for this test “didn’t someone stop Cadmus and destroyed this place?” “Well, let’s just say the reports were a little… exaggerated, after all, why let an installation like this go to waste? Especially when there are people that can be helped with them,” Sunset answered before everything was ready and with a click, a dummy made out of metal was brought into the training room by the rail system of the building. “What do you want us to do with that thing? Hit it until it breaks? I’m pretty sure you could do it Sunset Shimmer, but me? I’m not exactly build for fighting.” “I know you aren’t Adagio, but if what Twilight and I found in your blood is what we think, it seems your magical abilities, those granted by your stones at least, have mutated in the last few months,” Sunset said brining a copy of the results into one of the monitors. On the training room, one huge screen showed that same image “instead of absorbing dark tinted magic via the stones, now your bodies are capable of generating a different kind of power.” “I may not be a scientist, but even I know there is something wrong with that,” Aria said pointing at the image of a DNA strand, but the formation was strange. “What you are looking at is the DNA sample Adagio gave us. Even if we look like human beings on the outside, we are closer to Ponykind, mostly on our ability to handle magical energies. In conclusion, we are meta-magical in a sense.” “So what? Are we like your friends and we will suddenly gain strange powers?” “No, what we have is a little different to Applejack and the rest Aria. They gained powers through their connection with the Elements of Harmony and the pendants so in a sense, if they lose the pendants, they lose their powers. I am trying to find a way for them to get more direct control of those abilities without the need of the rocks; sadly it is taking some time for me to find a way that is safe for everyone, even with my own abilities.” “Wait, you have powers? Because all this time we’ve never seen you do something super, so what is it? Super strength? Beams form your eyes?” Sonata jumping up and down in excitement was at the same time endearing and slightly annoying, which made Sunset smile. “My power is not as… offensive oriented like the one my friends have, or the ones you have for that matter. So, what do you say we start with you Adagio?” “What do you want her to do? Scream at that thing until it freaks out and kills itself?” Adagio almost threw herself at Aria for that kind of comment but Sunset’s answer simply stopped them. “Exactly.” “Wait, what? I was joking.” “You were closer to the truth than you may think,” but before they were capable of continuing the test, Sunset’s cell started to sound “wow, we have some great signal in here. Hey AJ, what is it?” by the looks of it, Applejack wasn’t inviting her to a meeting or anything similar “that idiot, why she…thanks for telling me AJ, I’ll see what I can do,” she said finishing the call, then she stood up from her chair and addressed the Dazzlings “sorry girls, an emergency call. Apparently Rainbow Dash thought that it would be a good idea to try and save the day alone.” “So what? Isn’t she like, the fastest of you?” Sonata said trying to hold up a morning style, as in trying to get it out of the floor with the thing not moving an inch. “She got caught because the guys had hostages and Rainbow let herself be captured, now it seems she will have to be rescued,” Sunset said pressing a button on the console making a section of the wall open up and a set of clothes and armor be seen “and I know exactly by whom,” Sunset said as she took the cowl, cape and armor out of the holder. Of the dark material they were made, the only spot of color was a yellow oval… and a bat insignia in front of it.