She’d had worse nights. Literally sleeping under a bridge with nothing but her clothes was hardly the most uncomfortable rest Sunset ever had to go through. Though, after a few hours, she started to have second thoughts on all the girls offering to let her stay at their places for the night. Sunset would have it if there wasn’t a possibility that she was being tracked.
Even if Wendigo found her, she wouldn’t let them find her friends.
But what if they’d been tracking her the whole way since riding off from the escort mission? What if Wendigo already knew of her friends and where they lived? What if they had spied on her that very night she reunited with them?
Sunset’s mind pounded her with more and more concerns from her paranoia. A headache started to form, and he exhaled. Sunset shivered again and closed her eyes, praying every second that a soldier clad in black wouldn’t drag her out from her overnight refuge and put a bullet through her head. Or capture her and haul her back to do much worse.
One hand was always on her Glock’s holster, her wakizashi leaning beside her. Her motorcycle was concealed by plants and moss from the river, propped up onto a few folded out cardboard boxes. Every little movement from a frog jumping into the water, to a shadow of a car passing overhead from the bridge’s streetlights got her eyelids to stretch apart again, just as they were about to close.
An owl hooted in the distance as after the fifteenth or so splash from a frog, Sunset’s eyes refused to stay open, and complete darkness swallowed her vision.
The spot to meet up was Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie had already gotten a swath of vacation time off from her hours practically running the place now. Mr. and Mrs. Cake would watch over the shop while she was gone, just like when Pinkie was still in high school.
Though both of them wouldn’t have the faintest of ideas what Pinkie was really going off to do with her vacation.
The girls were sitting at a table, their cars parked in the back lot. Pinkie had already gotten them milkshakes, free of charge, with one still sitting there for Sunset.
“Anyone seen Sunny?” Pinkie asked for the seventh time.
“She’ll get here.” Twilight reassured her, then looked towards the doorway as the bell rang, “There she is!”
Sunset trudged in, her face, and in fact most of her body, soiled. She gave a little smile and waved, and sat down next to her friends.
“Sunset, your face is so dirty… here, let me clean that up for you.” Fluttershy got a handkerchief from her purse, and helped wipe the smudged dirt from Sunset’s face.
“Aw, christ! You reek!” Rainbow Dash cringed and covered her nose with her hand.
“Rainbow Dash, don’t be so-” Rarity took a whiff, “On second thought…”
Rarity handed Sunset a bottle of perfume, “It’s not going to clean you up, but let’s just hope that it cancels out that horrid stench!”
“Ah’ don’t think two bad smells are gonna cancel each other out.” Applejack cracked, getting everyone else except for Rarity to either giggle or grin. Sunset wanted to tell her friends about how amazing it felt to be back with them, how they took care of each other, and how much she’d missed that - and them. But there was another, more pressing matter.
“Alright, let’s get down to business.” Sunset nodded, “You guys just wait across the street from the bank. I’ll go in and get the evidence.”
“You sure you don’t want us to come inside with you?” Rainbow Dash’s eyebrow rose.
“I need to do it. If I get caught in there or something, I don’t want you to be near me in that building.” Sunset replied.
A glance around the table betrayed the emotions of her friends. Rarity and Fluttershy had a sinking feeling in their gut that this was all real, and really happening. As with Twilight, Sunset felt that she was still recovering from the shock of her friend telling her of what Wendigo really was. Applejack kept a stoic expression the whole time, after the subject of the bank and the evidence inside was brought up again.
Could it be that… Applejack fully trusted her? She didn’t seem to raise as many objections as Rainbow Dash had back at her apartment. Pinkie was actually listening to everything that Sunset was saying with dedication, something that she didn’t expect her carefree friend to do a lot.
And Rainbow Dash… it was a bit hard. Her face seem blank the whole while, but her suspicions were still inside of her. Sunset Shimmer knew that.
Sunset finished her milkshake, and nodded to her friends, “Let’s get going.”
Not a word was spoken as they exited the sweet shop, got into their respective vehicles, and drove down towards the bank. Sunset stopped by the side of the building while her friends all parked in various places that were free. She didn’t look up, but knew that there was a security camera peering down on her.
Rainbow Dash watched the most intently, sitting inside of her Mustang as Sunset entered.
A wave of air-conditioned breeze hit her face as she walked into the bank. A baseball cap on her head hardly did much to conceal her face, but it hid her eyes and most of her features from the camera around the ceiling. Approaching the teller, she had no choice but to raise her chin up.
“Good morning m’am, how can I help you today?” the teller flashed a smile.
“Hey, I need to get something out of storage here. Lockbox A235.” Sunset spoke.
“Okay, and can you tell me what’s inside there? We just need to verify.” the teller asked again.
Sunset looked up for a few seconds, before answering back, “Photos of me and my friends.”
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had parked across the street, Twilight and Fluttershy on the corner of the block being two buildings away, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie had parked in the parking lot behind the bank. Rarity was parked around the curb. Sunset’s motorcycle was leaning against the wall of the bank within the same lot.
Only Rainbow Dash could see what was going on inside, and even then, there weren't a lot of angles she could actually peer through.
Sunset had encouraged the girls to refrain from talking on the phone. It’s not that they thought someone would be listening in on them, but a resurfaced phone conversation that detailed nothing but the descriptions of what was going on inside of a bank would draw quite a few suspicions from the police.
Sunset still waited for the teller as she typed on her computer.
“Just a minute…” she instructed Sunset, now standing at the counter for five minutes, getting nowhere.
Then, she noticed something. The entire bank was empty, save for her, and a few other tellers at their places. No other people doing their business inside.
Before Sunset could come to the conclusion that this was a trap, and quite fast with it being obvious, she felt something press against her spine.
She tried to turn her head, but the man in the business suit pressed his hand against the side of Sunset’s head, “No, eyes in front.”
Sunset bit her lip as the disguised Wendigo soldier escorted her away from the teller.
“Thank you for trusting Mane-Branch Bank.” the teller said without looking up from her computer. She could already see the money being transferred to her account.
“Oh fuck.” Rainbow Dash could just barely see that when the man walked up to Sunset, and they both turned away with him behind her, the shape resembling a handgun in between them was apparent.
Her immediate reaction was to unlock her phone, and dial emergency services. The dialing tone didn’t even go through. It simply said, “Call failed” on her phone’s screen.
“Shit…” she looked out the window of her car again as Sunset and the man disappeared from inside. The phone was out of the question. She looked back at her screen, and no bars were present despite it being in the middle of town. From her knowledge of action and spy movies, or rather remembrance, she could figure that there was some sort of cell phone jammer preventing any calls.
Rainbow Dash peered back inside of the bank. Sunset hadn’t returned. She didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary coming from the building, though that could be for the worse.
She made her decision. Rainbow ignited her Mustang’s engine, and pulled away from the sidewalk. The closest to her were Applejack and Pinkie Pie within the bank’s parking lot. The unmistakable pink VW Beetle and the rugged 1989 Tacoma were stationary, with both of their occupants in the driver's seat of their respective vehicles. Rainbow Dash pulled up to the side of the parking lot, and motioned towards both of them. She rapidly pointed her fingers towards the bank, and had a distressed look on her face.
It clearly gave the impression to the two that something was wrong. Rainbow Dash didn’t want to take any chance with shouting, should someone inside of the bank overhear the commotion.
Applejack pointed to her cellphone, and shook her head. Hers was out too.
“Go figure.” Rainbow Dash thought to herself.
Time was wasting, as the girls started to feel more and more helpless to the possibilities of what was going on inside of the bank.
Then, Pinkie’s eyes widened, and she made a motion to Rainbow Dash.
Behind you!
She had no idea how she missed the sound. Two men on black motorcycles pulled up. They wore casual riding clothes and had their visors up, as if they were just out for a casual ride.
The Mini Uzi machine pistols they produced from their sides betrayed that completely.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as they approached her Mustang, both firearms pointed at her car door.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie sank down in their seats, seeing that the two armed men hadn’t yet noticed them. Their attention was clearly on the Grabber Blue muscle car.
Before Rainbow Dash could react by stepping on the gas pedal, the pair of thugs threw open Rainbow Dash’s door just as she was about to lock it. Applejack and Pinkie Pie watched in horror as their friend and the assailant struggled with the seatbelt, before it coming free. Rainbow Dash was sent to the asphalt, both guns pointing down at her.
“You think we don’t know who you are?!” one man kicked Rainbow Dash on the ground, preventing her from getting back up immediately and earning a sputtered gasp from her, “We heard the whole fucking thing last night!”
Then, a gunshot came from within the bank.
The soldiers smiled, and one spoke through a grin, “Hear that, Rainbow Dash? Looks like your friend just bit the dust.”
Just as one grabbed her hair and moved the barrel of the Uzi to the back of Dash’s head, a voice called out.
“Hey!”
The other motorcyclist swung his Uzi to see Applejack, out of her truck, with her Colt Python .357 Magnum in hand. She focused the sights on the head of the thug with his gun to Rainbow Dash. The other pointed his Uzi at Applejack.
“Ya’ll try any more shit like that, I’ll fucking shoot!” Applejack had both of her hands on the grip.
The soldier with the gun trained on Applejack gave a little smile.
“Easy there, cowgirl”, he spoke as the Uzi was trained on Applejack’s chest, “It’s one versus two here.”
Pinkie kept her head down, and couldn’t watch even if she wanted to. Applejack made a movement of focusing her grip tighter on the revolver, her finger already on the trigger. She really meant to fire.
“Don’t get any funny ideas, buster! You know how many friends Sunset has. What’s to say that two of them aren’t watching you right now?” Applejack bluffed.
The one with his Uzi to Dash’s head looked up at his partner, to which he shook his head.
“Don’t try this shit with me, or we’re killing both of you!” the soldier bashed the back of Rainbow Dash’s head with the magazine of his weapon, getting Applejack to scowl even deeper, and rest her finger on the trigger.
“This way up. We’re gonna reunite you with an old friend of yours, traitor.” the soldier with the handgun to Sunset’s back pushed her up the stairs to the second floor.
Sunset knew just who that “old friend” was. With his image in her head, she knew that she couldn’t go further. It was now or never.
She smashed the back of her head against her captor’s nose with one swift and precise movement. An audible crack was heard as she swung around to the man’s side, just as he fired his pistol. The round barely skinned her jacket. Sunset thrust her elbow into the man’s neck, earning a gag, and he raised his hands to protect himself.
Before he knew it, Sunset was behind him, her own Glock to his ear.
“Hey newbie. First rule, always confisticate the weapon first.” Sunset’s eyes narrowed at the back of his head.
Then, the door at the end of the hallway opened. Two more soldiers, these ones clad in full black body armor rushed out, HK416 rifles trained on Sunset and the her now captive captor. She could only know that two lasers were dancing around the man’s chest.
Then, another figure walked out from the door. The bald and muscular man, tattoos all over his arms stepped out, hand on his HK45 handgun.
Full Metal Jacket was all too unmistakable.
“Miss me?” Sunset quipped, braver than she felt right now, gun still to her captive’s head.
“Hardly. I just got here, and you’re still causing trouble.” he raised his Heckler and Koch, “But not a minute too soon, it seems.”
Full Metal Jacket motioned for the other two soldiers to move up, keeping his handgun trained on Sunset. They got the motion, and with their rifles, they inched closer.
“You come closer, I shoot him!” Sunset jerked the Wendigo soldier she had in her grip, forcing the soldiers to stop.”
Full Metal Jacket smiled.
“I can live with that.”
He raised his handgun, and fired. Sunset reacted just as the first bullet struck the man’s chest, stopped by lightweight body armor that he was wearing underneath his disguise of a business suit. The man gasped in pain as the bullet’s kinetic energy slammed into him, feeling as if a baseball thrown by a professional pitcher was thrown straight into him.
Sunset fired back at the two advancing men with rifles, scoring the one on her left between his eyes before he could react and fire. He dropped to the ground, and his rifle clattered on the floor.
Sunset threw the man off of her as a salvo of rifle rounds riddled her captive, blood flying onto the massive glass windows and shattering them. The man stumbled backwards off the stair railing, and fell outside of the bank, the stairs overlooking the street.
Sunset used the opportunity to drop a story down by vaulting over the staircase railing and rolling on the bank floor, firing her pistol back up as she ran outside.
Then, two gunshots came from outside. They weren't sharp like pistols or rifles, but blunt and powerful. She witnessed two men next to newly-arrived motorcycles go down outside, them clutching their chests in agony. One fired his machine pistol in the air as he went down, and Sunset could see Rainbow Dash scramble away.
“They know my friends.” Sunset’s mind raced as fast as she did towards Rainbow Dash, coming around the corner.
“Are you okay?!” Sunset asked frantically, checking Rainbow Dash for any sort of major wounds.
“I’m fine no thanks to AJ!” Rainbow Dash breathed in relief, as Sunset turned and saw the barrel of Applejack’s revolver smoking. The man falling out of the window had distracted Rainbow’s assailants, allowing Applejack to gun both of them down.
“We need to go. Now.” Sunset looked back, finding for the moment she was still ahead of her pursuers. “NOW!”
At this, Rainbow Dash clambered back into their car, but looked back.
“Where?!”
“Anywhere but here!”
Then, from the other side of the block, Twilight’s Corolla and Fluttershy’s Prius swerved away, two motorcyclists going after them.
“I’ll help them out! Just get out of here!” Sunset ran off to her motorcycle, jumped on, and rode off as the three other girls in the parking lot looked at each other, nodded, and headed off in opposite directions.
Sunset accelerated on her Kawasaki, her helmet over her face as the wind snapped her jacket around. She could see her friend’s cars turn desperately around an intersection, the motorcycles effortlessly keeping up with them. She began to gain on them, and figured that they must have seen her in their mirrors.
One decreased speed, flying towards her, her opened fire with his Uzi. 9mm rounds flew around her, peppering the pavement in front and behind her as Sunset nearly put her stomach flat on her bike. Sunset lifted her own weapon set to full auto, and squeezed off a burst. None of the rounds hit, save for one striking just below the rider’s seat.
The Wendigo soldier opened up again, Sunset ducking beneath her glass. Scratches and cracks adorned the windshield as she bid her time against the Uzi’s magazine.
Then, the machine pistol stopped firing.
Sunset pounced. She threw her motorcycle to its edge with the nitrous oxide system, racing towards her enemy like a bullet of her own. From a compartment on her motorcycle, she drew her wakizashi, and swerved straight into him. The motorcyclist couldn’t pull away. The sword connected with his neck, blood flying through the air and all over the controls of his motorcycle.
Almost instantly, the Wendigo soldier swerved onto the sidewalk, and smashed into a streetlight. The motorcycle ignited into flames as the limp body was thrown across the pavement. Shocked pedestrians either watched in horror, shot a video from their phones, or, at least the sensible ones, phoned for the police. If Sunset knew Wendigo, they must have been jamming cellphones. Or probably bribed the police anyways. The latter was far more concerning to her.
She didn’t have much time to delve. The other motorcyclist was gaining towards Twilight’s Corolla and Fluttershy’s Prius. He was much further away from Sunset, and she could see him draw his Uzi from his side. Sunset throttled forward again on her Kawasaki, desperately trying to get into range to fire her handgun accurately.
Then, a screech echoed from the intersection that Twilight and Fluttershy passed through.The Wendigo rider only managed to turn his head as Rainbow Dash’s Mustang drifted straight into him, sending the vehicle and the rider airborne. A sickening thump and the proceeding whine of the damaged motorcycle rang through the air. The Mustang screeched around after performing the hit, and turned towards her friends for the run. Sunset watched as the sprawled soldier could hardly get up. His right arm was twisted in the wrong direction when he landed on it. Just as she passed by, Sunset let loose a volley of pistol rounds, a few shattering through his visor, ending the suffering.
Sunset rode up to Twilight’s Corolla and shouted through the open window, “Are you all okay?!”
“Yeah! I think so!” Twilight shouted back.
“Where do we go now?!” Fluttershy managed to raise her voice loud enough over the numerous engines, an impressive feat indeed.
“Look out!” Rainbow Dash suddenly hit the brakes, smoke pluming from her tires. Her warning was just in time for Twilight and Sunset to get their rides to stop after Rainbow Dash spotted a row of deployed spikes on the road.
Fluttershy gasped as she couldn’t see in time, slamming on the brakes and throwing herself forward as the inertia reversed on her. Her seatbelt locked her safely in place, but her car sailed straight into the hazard. The metal spikes punctured through her front tires, and tore through her back ones. The sudden jolt sent the Prius straight into an electrical box on the side of the street, several pedestrians jumping away just in time.
“Fluttershy!” Sunset got off of her bike, and ran towards the wrecked Prius. Fluttershy stumbled out of the car, smelling the distinguishable fume of gasoline.
“Get out of there! The gas’ll ignite!” Rainbow Dash could only stray there, helpless as the spikes prevented her from getting to her friend. She didn’t have time to contemplate the irony of a burning hybrid being more dangerous for the environment.
“Uhnnn…” Fluttershy had noticeable scratches and bruises from Sunset’s view. Just as she came up to Sunset Shimmer, a whooshing fireball soared skyward as the gasoline caught fire from the short-circuiting box and the leaking fuel from the crunched tank. Sunset threw Fluttershy to the ground, her back towards the explosion.
Sunset looked down at Fluttershy, “Are you hurt?”
“Just some scratches and bruises. I’m okay.” Fluttershy rubbed her temple. Sunset pulled her up and both of them made their way to Rainbow Dash’s Mustang.
“Dash, get her out of here.”
Rainbow didn’t argue with that. The Mustang drove off.
“What about you?” Twilight asked.
“I’m gonna find where Pinkie and AJ went. Rarity too. Just get anywhere away from here.” Sunset instructed. With that, Twilight drove off.
Sunset was thankful that the rest of her friends had made it out of the battle in one piece. They regrouped at Fluttershy’s house, due to it being far away from town, and coming up from an underused road. They wouldn’t be staying for too long, of course.
“I’m just glad that you’re all alive.” Sunset professed. Not even Rainbow Dash was in the mood to start to deconstruct Sunset again. She too was thankful of her continuing life.
“Well… what do we do now? They’ll be looking for us there. We can’t go back in town.” Twilight asked, “My brother must be worried sick. My parent’s too.”
Applejack was sitting against the wall. No one spoke to her after she had shot those two motorcyclists. She told Rarity to hold her revolver for her. Rarity was sitting next to Applejack, letting her lean on her shoulder.
Pinkie’s hair had deflated a long time ago. She didn’t say a word after coming to Fluttershy’s house. On the other hand, Fluttershy was desperate to call her insurance company, but there was a nagging thought in the back of her head telling her that it wouldn’t be the best idea at the moment.
Sunset looked around, and her heart sank once again. “Oh god…” she said to herself.
“Well, I believe you now.”
Every head turned to Rainbow Dash, who had gotten up from her seat, “I think we all do.”
Sunset shook her head, “Dash, it’s okay.”
“No, it isn’t.” Rainbow Dash walked up to Sunset, “I doubted more than just Wendigo being nothing but killers. I doubted that you were still my friend.”
“Rainbow Dash, what does that have to do-” Sunset started, but Rainbow Dash cut her off.
“I know what you’re going to do. You’re going to ask for our help again.” Rainbow Dash interrupted her.
It was quite the contrary, yet Rainbow Dash kept speaking.
“Whatever is going on here, it’s big. Bigger than anything we’ve ever been in before. And you know what kind of shit we got into back in high school.” Rainbow Dash acknowledged.
“I’m not going to put you through all of this. Look, Applejack literally just killed two people. You killed someone!” Sunset pointed to Rainbow Dash, “Doesn’t that phase you at all?!”
“Hey, don’t act all moral with me. You killed the guy I wiped out. I was trying to save my friends from a fucking machine gun.” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes.
Sunset lowered her eyes, then exhaled through her nose. Then, Rainbow Dash turned around.
“Look, we all know this is big, and messed up. Like, really, really big. And insurmountably messed up.” Rainbow Dash started, “But think of what’s gonna happen if these guys get their way. They had no mercy trying to kill us, they’re gonna kill more. I mean, magical super soldiers? We know how powerful magic is. What happens if these guys get it?”
Twilight pursed her lips. She didn’t have to look too far into her mind to visualise.
“If we don’t do something, we’re no better than them. We need to stop them.” Rainbow Dash affirmed, “Somehow. Together.”
Sunset looked over towards Rainbow Dash, “Wow… kinda did my speech for me. But look, you all don’t have to-”
“I’ll go.” Twilight pushed her glasses back onto her face, “I’ve heard enough, and I’ve thought enough. Wendigo needs to be stopped.”
Pinkie then rose her hand, “If Twilight’s in, so am I. And Rainbow Dash.”
Fluttershy had a moment to recover before she spoke up, “I… I want to go too. Like Rainbow Dash said, I won’t stand by while Wendigo does to others what they did to us.”
Rarity looked over towards Applejack, who tilted her head up.
“Ah’ll go.”
“Applejack, are you sure?”
The cowgirl turned back to the fashionista, “Where mah’ friends go, ah’ gotta be there for them. To protect them from anything that comes their way.”
Then, Applejack pointed to Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer, “Sides’, those two together without me, now that’s just trouble waitin’ to happen. Now just give me a moment while I convince myself that there’s no other alternative.”
Rarity nodded, “Well, then I’ll be rounding it out to seven then. Looks like we’re back together, huh?”
Sunset Shimmer looked around, “You all sure you want to do this?”
They all nodded in unison.
“Alright. Get your belongings, and your cars. We’re gonna head off. I’ll explain later on the road, and when we’re far away from here.”
Full Metal Jacket trudged through the glass-littered floor of the bank, his ACR strapped to his back. He already made contact with Aurora about the events that occurred.
His boss told him that Sunset was now the least of Wendigo’s concerns. Their facade would still hold, and where she did turn up, she would either be disposed of or her pleas to the media would go unanswered.
Though, the nagging curiosity still poked the back of FMJ’s mind.
He went straight to the lockboxes.
“Let’s see… what was it…” Full Metal Jacket trudged through the massive amount of panels on the wall, each containing something valuable inside, to the holder that is.
“Here we go…” a soldier opened up box A235 with a high-powered saw, and the lock no longer bolted the little door shut.
FMJ reached inside, and pulled out a small wooden box. It too had a place for a lock, but it was absent. He opened it, and found a plethora of pictures inside.
However, on closer examination, the pictures were not of classified images or evidence, but rather photos of Sunset Shimmer along with her six other friends. They looked younger. They had to have been teenagers when these photos were taken.
Full Metal Jacket realised what Sunset had done.
He simply took one of the photos, and snapped a picture of it with a camera. With a lighter, he ignited the bottom corner of the picture, then placed the burning paper back into the box with the others.
“You, get the security footage. You two, sweep for anything else. We’re packing up.” FMJ ordered, and the soldiers under his command went to fulfill their duties.
FMJ watched as the pictures burned, the fire crawling over each smiling face.
“How manipulative, Sunny. You gotta trick your friends about ‘evidence’ to get some help.” he couldn’t help but smile.
“Some friend you are.”