//------------------------------// // 14 - Howling Ghosts They Reappear in Mountains That Are Stacked With Fear // Story: Hell & High Water // by Uria the Sacred Beast //------------------------------// “Damn it, Dash.” Daring Do muttered as she slung a bag into the backseat, having it unintentionally land on Fluttershy’s lap with a muffled thump. The buttercream colored girl yelped in response, but it fell on deaf ears. Daring Do’s face was now only a few lines pressed tightly together in a scowl. “Please be okay…” “We don’t know that’s what it is, dear.” Rainbow Blaze tried to comfort her from the passenger’s seat. “It's probably not one of your enemies.” “But what if it is?!” She snapped at him. “If Caballeron or one of his goons has her, I will never forgive myself for it.” “A possibility it may be, I doubt it has anything to do with your work, Daring.” Sunset hummed nervously, looking out the window as the car backed out of the driveway in a rather reckless manner. “Given that lightning…” She grit her teeth, “We need to get over there as fast as we can.” “Next obvious question!” Blaze yelped as he clung to one of the handles on the inside of the car. “Sh-shouldn’t we report her missing to the cops?” “...no. If I’m right, this could very well be a magical incident. One that would be my fault.” A more pained look came across Sunset’s expression as they turned down another neighborhood. A fire engine was sitting outside of the house several doors down from where they sat, an older man rapidly conversing with what seemed to be the chief. Daring glanced back at the worried girl silently, not saying anything for the moment. “Shit. That’s Wind Rider.” Blaze bit his lip with a frown, motioning to the older man. “Do we stop?” The roof was still smoking, charred from both the strike and fire that had started to spread from it. The lowering ladder from the truck showed that they had just finished dealing with it. “Depends.” Blaze said, “See anything?” “Just an older guy that looks beyond stressed and the remains of another weird lightning strike.” Sunset shrugged. ‘Targeting someone who Dash and I are pissed at as well.’ “Then… Now what?” Fluttershy asked quietly from under Daring’s bag of ‘supplies’. “I-” Sunset’s response was cut off by a flash of violet light to the right, another bolt coming down with a crash of sound following rather quickly after, “Wasn’t that the power station?!” Daring slammed on the accelerator, all heads turning to them as Daring’s car squealed out of the neighborhood. Captain Lightspeed Barrage turned just in time to see the car rip around the corner, clenching her teeth at having to deal with even more than what was already going on. “Captain?” Her partner glanced at her, “I don’t think a speeding car this late at night clocks very high on the list of To-Dos.” “No, it doesn’t.” She massaged her forehead, looking over at the distance. “But purple lightning does.” Barrage scowled, eyeing her partner with a silent command. “...I’ll, uh, I’ll pull the cruiser around.” He coughed. Sunset, meanwhile, was holding onto the armrest for dear life, “Does she always drive like this?!” She asked Blaze in a yelp. “Only when stressed!” Blaze was thrown from side to side, eyes wide. Thankfully, though, they were at the plant in no time at all. Daring’s driving assured that much, “So...yeah!” “Ok...you two should probably stay here.” Sunset was already pulling herself out the door. “It's going to be incredibly dangerous, and not the kind you’re probably used to.” “No.” Daring said simply. That, and Fluttershy was already out of the door. “We’re talking incredibly volatile magic here.” Sunset reiterated, glancing at Fluttershy as well, “Fall Formal kind of stuff.” “I have dealt with magic before. Maybe not the active kind that we might see tonight, but this is my daughter we’re talking about.” Daring said, grabbing her bag from Fluttershy, “Thanks for holding that, Fluttershy.” Blaze rolled down the window of the car. “I’ll, um, I’ll keep lookout from here!” “Just listen to your tunes, dear!” Do called back. Sunset sighed, “I’m not talking Daring Do down, am I?” A glance to Fluttershy gave a similar feeling, “You coming too?” “Of course I am.” She said, wringing hands betraying her brave face, “I can’t just sit around again. I’ve learned as much. Believe me or not, I learned. Let me show that.” “On my end, I’m afraid Dash got her stubbornness from me.” Daring chuckled, reaching into her bag and pulling the signature helmet onto her head. Sunset doubted that would help from electrocution or magic, but if she wasn’t going to talk Daring Do out of risking her life, she doubted she’d talk her out of her sense of style, “Just...stay safe then. I can’t say for certain what we’re to expect inside.” With a running start, Sunset latched onto the fence and began to climb. The odd spark of lightning shot up from inside, and from this close, there was no denying that there was a magic aura to it. “Ohhh, it’s at times like this that I wish I knew how to just summon those neat wings without the band.” Fluttershy whimpered quietly. Daring seemed to be taking this just fine, focusing on making sure the two younger women in front of her weren’t going to fall. Sunset made it over well enough, three and a half years of breaking and entering behind her. Those fast food joints never knew what hit them. “Try and stay quiet.” The ambient noise of the pylons and machinery’s humming would mask most things, but she didn’t want to risk it if the situation was more dire than she hoped. The two nodded, Daring ducking her head, just in case. Fluttershy glanced around the area, jumping but drowning her squeak of terror whenever the closer machinery would suddenly crackle to life. Daring surveyed the dark building in the distance, large, towering smokestacks shadowed them like giants in the dim moonlight as they spewed billowing smog up into the air. A figure could be vaguely spotted on the rooftop, their own strange shadow lurking about in unrecognizable shapes that shifted and blurred in their sight. Their every footstep crunched into the gravel that made up the ground around the factory. Whenever the shadow twitched, the group would pause for a moment, keeping still before continuing after a moment’s breath. Sunset paused in her stride, staring at the blurred shape before it disappeared. She rubbed her eyes, unsure if she had seen that correctly. It had appeared as if a lone figure had split into two before fusing back and vanishing. Reminding herself of the situation, she darted back after the others, a heavy feeling in her gut growing. They came up to a door that would probably lead them into the station, shut entirely for the night thanks to a particularly nasty lock. Daring dropped her bag, louder than she expected, and began to softly and cautiously dig for her lock picking set. Another jump from Fluttershy as she glanced around the site, watching the ticking, blinking lights of the generators around her, locked behind steel cages and a deadlock. She wrung her hands a little tighter. Sunset jumped as well when another crackle of power shot up from the left, followed by a sharp scream of fury. The roar was almost unearthly, distorted and shifting in pitch violently. The lights around them flickered for several moments, dimming and powering on again as the shouting and zapping ceased. “Well that’s foreboding.” Fluttershy whimpered, but didn’t cower away this time. Daring looked around rapidly, looking for the source of the screaming, “Think that it’s Dash?” “As much as I hate to guess?...probably.” She nodded, brushing a hand across her  forehead, flicking the sweat away. Why did all this machinery have to be so warm? Another boom of thunder accompanied the bright flash from inside the building, the two events neck and neck in timing. “Think we could, uh, speed up the lock picking process?” Sunset started to move in place a little, nerves starting to fray from it all. “Can’t rush these things.” Daring grunted, working on the lock now, “If I rush it, the alarm I know they have in here will go off.” Sunset bit back the heavier sarcasm, bouncing on her heels now, “Well we’re kinda under pressure, so some tomb-raiding-tier breaking and entering would be highly appreciated.” “Life isn’t a video game, Sunset.” Daring muttered, focusing on the lock again. It popped open a moment later. “Alright, quietly.” She led the way into the inky blackness, completely disappearing from their sight. “Yeah, not like people grow wings and shoot magic outta their hands around here or something.” Sunset muttered with a light scowl, following Daring inside. Fluttershy scooted after with wide, terrified eyes. It was dark for a good while, nearly impossible to see where they were. Sunset was about to risk asking where her companions were when another furious shriek tore through the room, echoing around her as the room lit up in a sharp violet flash, machines sparking and the generator across the room whining angrily. It was too bright above them, the sudden contrast to the dark and intensity of the light forced her eyes shut on instinct. Either way, their target was but just a few feet away from them now. Tense as the situation already was, Sunset realized how actively dangerous things were when the atmosphere seemed to grow charged, more so than it had been already. She heard Daring shout and next thing she knew, she and Fluttershy were on the ground, Daring in the same position behind them. The area behind them lit up in something reminiscent of an explosion, a sizzling filling her ears in place of the expected flying shrapnel or the heat of a fireball. Sunset looked up, the dizzying brightness of the sudden light feeling less painful now, and gaped. She hadn’t been sure what to expect when they arrived, but anything would have been better than the figure that now floated before them. A familiar pair of red eyes stared down at her, surrounded by pools of inky blackness, dark magic wisping out from her black sclera. Her skin was a deep blue, far darker than the pale sky color Sunset had grown accustomed to. It made the scars across her mouth all the more prominent. Her hair sparked upwards in a pale pattern of chromatic hues, the pointed tip of the shifting follicles dancing around much like an actual bolt of lightning. A pair of jagged bat-like wings jutted out from her back, unmoving but poised to send the demonic figure hurtling forwards at any moment. “D-Dash?” Sunset found her voice, coming to regret that as the figure responded with a particularly feral growl. The rush of memories of her own experiences were enough to give her pause, but now facing the active danger of another demon left her mind racing for ideas on how to deal with the situation. A spark of lightning leapt from the creature's wings to strike the ground in front of her, making her flinch and almost take a panicked step back. Instead, she stayed rooted on the spot, staring up at the demon and shaking slightly. It felt like staring down a feral animal, one that would pounce upon her the moment she moved. Sunset found herself thinking back to Fluttershy's earlier wish for her wings; somehow she didn't think singing at her friend in this state would do anything more than rile her up further, and her untrained siren powers were no match for such an uncontrolled mass of dark magic, if those earlier bursts of energy were anything to go by. 'Last time Canterlot had to deal with anything like this, it took five people and an alicorn princess to defeat it… what am I even trying to do here?’ Sunset slumped a bit in resignation, wishing dearly that she had a group of friends that would be able to back her up and face the danger arm in arm. Of course, the only one Sunset felt she could truly trust was right there in front of her and the very danger to confront. “Rainbow Dash, I…” Sunset trailed off, having trouble looking up at her corrupted friend again. Rainbow was the one person who had stood by her side when everyone else abandoned her. Even Princess Twilight hadn’t answered her plea for help. When they'd been led into Gilda's trap, instead of selling out Sunset for her own safety, Dash had fought for her despite the overwhelming odds. After even the events at the old hotel and coming within inches of death, rather than blaming Sunset for having dragged her into the whole situation and finally dropping her, Dash had only seemed to latch on tighter, more resolved to help. She even put a roof over her head with no hesitance. Sunset slowly let herself relax, feeling a strange calm wash over her. Throughout the past few days, Rainbow had shown complete and unconditional loyalty to her, had nearly died for her and now here she was, unable to even look her friend in the eye when she needed help. She took a deep breath and raised her head, staring right at the demon – no, at Marred, Rainbow Dash, her best friend – and reaffirming her stance. In response, the other actually flinched away for a brief moment before letting out a feral screech and rising further into the air with a strong few flaps of the leathery wings. Electricity began to course down from her hair and over her entire body, focusing especially along her outstretched arms and wings. Stray bolts began to jump off aimlessly and striking at anything and everything in her immediate vicinity. Daring stepped in front of Fluttershy as the long haired girl flinched back with a dry squawk of terror. “Sunset.” Daring warned, assessing the situation rapidly. Sunset didn't flinch though. She didn't even blink from the sporadic bolts, and simply kept staring back at her, daring to take a slow step forwards. Rainbow let out another screech and backed away an equal distance, the lightning coming more rapidly and striking out nearer to Sunset. Sunset could feel them whipping past her head and a few striking around her feet. She could feel the greasy charge in the air and the metallic taste it all left in her mouth. She heard Daring swear loudly and Fluttershy squeak in fear as the overhead lights began to brighten again, the high-pitched whine of the tortured generator returning. The duo took cover behind one of the few machines that was bare of scorch marks, but Sunset ignored them, keeping her attention only on her friend as she took another confident step towards her. Another shriek came from Marred, this one sounding more dissonant than before, like several voices at once and filled with anger, fear and pain in equal measures. Her form seemed to flicker somewhat, almost appearing as though her head had attempted to split into two mirrored faces for the briefest second before reforming as though it hadn’t happened at all. As her hands clasped together for a moment, a surge of violet bolts ran down her arms, pulling apart to reveal a ball of electricity growing between them, not unlike the fireball Sunset had once thrown at Rainbow Dash and her friends so long ago. The irony certainly wasn’t lost on her. Sunset paused her approach, but didn't back down, simply steeling herself and watching passively as the attack burst out into a single beam of jagged purple lightning nearly a foot wide, shooting right toward her. “SUNSET!” A voice cried out from behind her. Be it Daring or Fluttershy, she couldn't determine. The buzzing had all but overtaken her hearing. Sunset tensed and blinked against the approaching bright light, more feeling than seeing the beam split apart and curve around her, actively bending out of her way before fusing together again behind her and taking a large chunk out of a machine further back in the room and the wall behind it. She felt a rush of air as the bolt of energy ceased and quickly blinked the spots out of her eyes, her vision slowly coming back into focus. Rainbow was right in front of her now, quickly establishing her enhanced height, with her wings curled forward slightly in a tellingly aggressive posture. Sunset’s eyes shifted from the snarling face to the arm reaching out for her, sharp claws merely inches from her neck. While the light show had died down once more, small purple sparks still occasionally raced over her arm. What surprised Sunset though was how shaky the poise seemed. Despite her helplessness, Rainbow made no further move to grab her. Sunset glanced back up, looking passed the angered snarl splashed across Rainbow’s face and straight into her eyes. She raised a hand, moving slowly enough to not elicit anything more than a twitchy glance from the other, and set it carefully on her friend’s outstretched wrist. Colorful sparks of magic jumped between the two on contact, cerulean and violet swirling around her claws and spreading back up her arm, leaving a soft glow and sky colored skin for a moment before it began to dim back down to the pale slate hue of Marred Spectrum. The flowing tendrils reversed from her eyes, dark glow fading in strength as some level of clarity formed in them, “Sun...set?” Her voice was croaky, a faint echo still present, but the heavy dissonance from the height of her freakout now absent. A smile formed on Sunset’s face at this, almost allowing herself to relax as the pale blue continued crawling up Rainbow’s arms to replace the darkened saturation, “Y-yeah, it's me, Dash...oh damn it, I'm sorry. This is all my fault.” She shut her eyes with a shuddering breath, weight of the situation suddenly crashing down on her. In healing Rainbow, she had also managed to curse her. Before this could lead to an inevitable onslaught of sobs, Sunset felt a hand free itself from her grip and migrate to her shoulder, “Hey, don't get all weepy on me, you know I'm not good with that stuff.” Came the far more familiar, croaky reply. “S-sorry.” Sunset coughed out a laugh, rubbing at her face with a sleeve as she forced her eyes back open. Rainbow was back at her original height, just an inch or two below Sunset again, and tiredly smiling up at her. “You've been making me worry lately.” “Literally the exact opposite of what I want to do.” Dash gave a dumb smile as her hair  flopped down from it's arcanely assisted styling with as much grace as anyone could expect from the athlete, bangs now hiding her eyes entirely. Her wings were already pulling behind her back, looking ready to dissipate as well, “...well, shit.” Was all Rainbow seemed to be able to get out for the moment. “Shit’s right… You have a form like I did.” Sunset agreed, rubbing her arm and wincing apologetically at her, “I’m sorry, Dash. This is all my fault.” She repeated. “All that dark magic I used to heal you with… It did this to you.” “You’re saying that like you shouldn’t have healed me.” Dash gave a tired, sideways grin, “I mean, I don’t know much about magic, but I think dealing with this would be easier than working through limb loss and brain damage, right?” That at least had Sunset meeting eye contact again, “Well, yeah but-” “Then don’t apologize. I traded a huge problem for a smaller one.” Dash brushed it off, wiping her forehead, “Still. A problem is a problem, so can we go home now?” The pale girl slumped somewhat, reminding Sunset that it was still roughly four in the morning. “Well…” Daring was on her feet now, advancing over, “The car’s outside. Let’s get out of here. Then we can all get an explanation. Deal?” She glanced between the two teenagers. “Yeah, let’s get out of here...where is here?” Dash blinked, looking around now. “You may have led us to the local power plant?” Sunset chuckled lightly at the surprised expression at Dash’s face, “Seems you’ve developed some serious power over electricity.” Rainbow looked around the room, the char marks still illuminated by the slowly dimming lights. They were all over the place, alongside overloaded machines and a distant hole in the wall, “Uhhh…” “Maybe we should, um, go?” Fluttershy suggested, wide-eyed and tapping her fingers together. “I’m with Fluttershy.” Daring nodded, already motioning for them to get outside, “We could have spectators coming to check out the flashes soon.” “Crap, she’s right.” Sunset clenched her teeth, “Think you’ll be able to run, Dash?” “Uh, may need a little help there.” Rainbow responded, “Really...sleepy.” A yawn escaped from her as her eyelids drooped for a few moments. Daring ran over, throwing Dash over her shoulder. “Now we’re good. Run, and get straight into the car, we’re going to be booking it out of here.” With that, Daring broke out into a sprint with precision out the door. Sunset flinched as Daring ran over and grabbed Dash, nodding to Fluttershy and making to chase after the fleeing duo with haste. ‘Daring Do’s right, we need to get out of here before anyone takes notice of all this. Who knows what kind of attention we could’ve attracted with all that!’ It didn’t take much for Sunset to notice the police cruiser that was parked next to the family’s sedan, nor the bulky female cop questioning Rainbow Blaze intensely. From the nervous expression on his face and how he was pressing himself up against the side of the car, things weren’t going well. Daring quickly slid behind an outdoor generator that was still intact, buzzing away. Sunset quickly mirrored the action, pushing Fluttershy to the side and out of direct line of sight, ‘Oh please tell me she just got here!’ She shot a panicked glance across the area to Daring, trying to get a read from her. Daring was stone-faced, her eyes searching the scene. Two men went into the power plant, hands on their guns. Daring followed them with her eyes and a grimace. It wasn’t until the cop pulled back, slapping her hand on Blaze’s shoulder and letting out a laugh that could be heard from where the four huddled, that Blaze relaxed his posture. Daring walked out from behind the generator, “I think we’ll be alright. Just be ready to ‘explain’ whatever Blaze told the cop.” She motioned to a section of the fence covered in darkness some distance from the car. To say the least, hauling her daughter’s sleeping body over said fence while also making sure she herself didn’t fall was difficult, but it wasn’t impossible. Sunset grimaced nonetheless, nodding to the shaking girl at her left and followed Daring out of hiding, ‘Here we go…’ The two followed Daring down to the section of fence before attempting to scale it again, moving slow to keep the rattling to a minimum. They approached the two, and Daring blinked at Blaze. “Is something wrong, dear?” She played it off naturally. Sunset and Fluttershy stayed close behind her, keeping silent for the moment. “Captain Barrage here was-” “-I was asking what you all were doing here.” Lightspeed Barrage cut in, “This is private property. And don’t think I didn’t see you all climbing the fence.” Fluttershy flinched, and the movement wasn’t lost on the young woman. Sunset tensed from that. It was clear that they had underestimated her even with that simple maneuver, and Sunset was having trouble forming a coherent reason for why they were here without telling Barrage all about Dash’s little breakdown. Sunset looked up at Captain Barrage, who was smiling smugly at Daring Do. “And why do you have a teenager slung over your shoulder?” “This is my daughter.” Daring said simply, “He and I’s.” Her hand motioned to Blaze. Barrage’s eyebrow raised, “That’s a ‘who’ not a ‘why’. You both have two daughters?” Blaze’s eyes went wide as he realized that Daring was about to possibly get caught in a lie. “We-” He started, but the towering officer put out a hand to silence him. “-All I wanna know is why you all were in there.” She said. “Folks, I’ve had a long day, and several bolts of magical freaky lightning have suddenly hit our town. Also, the father of one of the two victims of another, magically disappearing case shows up to one of the crash sites.” She gave Blaze a hard look, setting her hands on her hips. He grinned nervously. “...magic?” Sunset gave a scoffing laugh, “Don’t tell me you believe in some hocus pocus, do you officer?” Fluttershy gave her an alarmed look, but Sunset held her gaze up at Lightspeed. Officer Barrage stared at Sunset for a moment. “There’s more magic in this world then you’d ever believe, kid.” “Try me.” Sunset responded with the remnants of a smirk. “I’m willing to believe quite a bit.” “Don’t go spreadin’ this, but there’s been magic happenings going on all over the town. But don’t worry, we’ve been handling it.” “You mean you’ve been helping keep it quiet.” Sunset corrected, “The one helping to handle both situations is currently residing in another dimension.” She held back any vitriol in her voice for the moment. Now wasn’t the time to get snide over another Princess. “Well, we can’t do anything if it’s been taken care of before we’re even alerted to it… so yeah.” Barrage scowled down at the girl. “Well magic’s unpredictable. You never know when it might flare up out of nowhere and result in something potentially catastrophic.” As if to emphasis her point, a sudden whine came from the building behind them, followed by all of the lights in sight shutting off in an instant, “...welcome to my world.” “...honestly surprised the power grid didn't give out earlier.” Daring coughed. Luckily, the light from the car and cruiser was enough. “Of course.” Barrage ran a hand down her face. “Well, so can I have statements, please? What happened here? What do you know about magic?” The last question was now pointed at Sunset. Sunset sighed, nodding, “My name is Sunset Stanza, previously Shimmer. I hope I can trust you to keep that part underwraps as much as you do me, to continue keeping the arcane quiet?” Earning a sharp nod from Barrage, she continued, “We had an uncontrolled flare of internal magic from my friend, Rainbow Dash.” Sunset gestured to the snoozing girl, “Or Marred Spectrum as it currently stands. The incident was that similar to the one back in August at CHS, assuming you assisted in silencing the reality of that one as well?” She nodded, “That’s correct. And the one in November. Now that was an interesting report. Not every day a high schooler calls in about three giant dragon-creatures that isn’t high off their ass.” Daring held back a loud snort of amusement. “This isn’t Los Pegasus.” Blaze snorted, only to be shushed by Daring. “Those three are...recuperating.” Sunset nodded, “And don’t plan on putting on quite a show again. Sorry for that one.” “So you’ve handled that one too.” Barrage nodded, but clearly had recognition splashed all across her face. “I was the one that stopped it.” She addressed directly, “I’m from the world where this all originates. Again, sorry about all our messes.” “That. Explains a lot more than you think.” Barrage mused. “I imagine all the records under ‘Sunset Shimmer’ suddenly disappearing was your work as well?” “Actually...no.” Sunset frowned, “I looked into that myself awhile back, but I was never able to find anything on my human counterpart. That’s saying quite a lot too.” She crossed her arms, looking down in thought, “I’m rather skilled in pulling up information that people try to hide from me. The fact that there’s just nothing there makes no sense.” “Well, we tried everything to pull up any records on you that we could find, but there wasn’t anything. So your Principal just told us she’d handle you.” “Well, she certainly did so.” Sunset nodded with a weak smile, “More so than I deserved certainly. Does that cover a statement?” “I don’t really need a statement. My partner and I will come up with an excuse and leave it at that.” Barrage said, “Just get home and keep your heads down for awhile while this thing blows over.” “We intend to. Thanks.” Sunset nodded, looking to Blaze. He happily slipped back behind the wheel of the car, Daring busy with their daughter. “Thank you, Captain Barrage. I imagine this’ll all go under wraps entirely?” Daring asked. “In its entirety, yes. Just have a safe night, and for God’s sake, Mrs. Do, I will totally chase you down and write you a ticket next time. Slow the hell down.” Daring gave an innocent smile as she scooped Dash into her arms and put her in the back seat, before slinking into her own seat, “Heh, night!” The car drove off, and the rest of the officers joined Barrage at the front of the plant. “Let’s get some damn coffee.” Dash had been awoken at arrival to their home, Sunset taking care to guide her back to their shared room after Daring and Blaze pulled the full story of their hospital visit out of her again. To say the least, Daring found it bemusing that a healing spell had given her daughter a demonic form. Fluttershy had settled back to the couch, sticking to the agreement of speaking when the morning actually started. “I suppose that makes one more of us.” Sunset sighed, sitting herself down on the bed where Dash had collapsed first. “I’ll keep saying it. Magic’s weird.” Dash groaned, “So now you’re a siren and I’m the she-demon...well that’s one way to start the holidays.” “Incredibly.” She nodded in turn, “Even to Equestria, it can be boggling.” “No kidding. Just glad you didn’t have to blast me with a rainbow to get me back to normal too. The irony may have killed me on the spot.” Dash deadpanned with a sideways grin. Sunset was silent for a moment, “You mean a lot to me, you know?” Rainbow sat up some what, surprised by the statement, “W-well, uh, thanks, Sunster.” “Really. You’re the only one that stood by me from the start. No faltering, no doubt. You didn’t even have any solid proof until the day was nearly up. You just-” She paused, “-trusted me.” “Well, yeah. You’re my friend.” Rainbow nodded slowly, trying to understand where this was coming from all of a sudden, “I know you were scared for me and all, I was too, but there’s no need to get all sentimental now. I know how you feel.” “That’s...not entirely my intention.” Sunset hesitated, biting her lip. This was a bad idea. She could probably live out her entire life and never speak this secret. It wouldn’t hurt a soul to never learn this. However, Dash had the right to. Anyone willing to die on someone else’s behalf deserved as much. “I’ve been hiding something, from everyone, ever since the Fall Formal.” “Yeah?” Dash pulled herself up just enough to face Sunset, now leaning on her elbow to keep herself up. “What’s that?” “I lied to you.” She clenched her hands into fists, keeping her gaze down and away from Dash as she spoke. “About what?” Dash didn’t look angry or startled, just confused. “I mean, it can’t be anything too Earth-shattering, can it?” “Maybe. I’m not sure, but you deserve to know about it.” Sunset nodded a little, sounding as she was convincing herself as much as telling Dash, “What I said, when I crawled out of that crater at the Fall Formal? It was a lie.” “So, you weren’t sorry?” Dash blinked, “Uh, but you were crying.” “Did you know I minored in theater back at Canterlot University?” She spoke dryly, “If I stood up and showed anything but utter remorse, I have no doubt Twilight would’ve dragged me back through the portal and brought me right before Celestia to be judged for my crimes. Couldn’t really let that happen, now could I?” “So…You flubbed it?” Dash asked, only adding more confusion to her expression. “But, uh, what about the Battle?” “That’s what changed things.” Sunset continued, “I’ve always been a vindictive person, getting blasted into a crater tends to stir things in someone, especially when they already have a temper. I spent a good majority of the time leading up to the Battle of the Bands trying to think of some manner of revenge.” She tensed, finally airing the truth in full. It was rather liberating really, if not incredibly terrifying. “And then you changed your mind?” Dash asked. “I had an epiphany. Spent so much time trying to think up some petty way of bringing you five down, that I didn’t realize something staring me in the face. I was having fun. I enjoyed spending time around you all. You had managed to become my friends without me realizing it, and all that planning just became an excuse. I was trying to tell myself that nothing had changed. I was still the cold pony that had abandoned her mentor and claimed dominion over a high school from another reality.” Sunset shook her head, sighing deeply, “I didn’t want to believe in friendship because I was scared it would change me...and it did.” “Then… Why would you build that up to be this big secret?” Dash asked, placing a hand on Sunset’s shoulder, the sandy girl now glancing back in surprise, “We knew all that resentment wouldn’t just go away overnight. That’s not how people work, Sunset. Hell, look at me! I’m like the biggest ball of resentment! I mean, I think the best case of that would be to look at how much Applejack and I fought - even without you egging us on back then. The point was to show you all this friendship stuff, and help you realize why it was so important to us. Even though the girls did a shit job afterwards, the plan was to let you come about this at your own pace. And you did! That’s what matters.” Sunset blinked in surprise, not having expected that as a reaction. Anger, maybe, sadness and a bit of resentment that would pass by morning if she was lucky. She trusted Dash more than enough to hope that she’d be able to move past it, but to brush it all aside in an instant and give a small speech about it was enough to render her silent for a short while, “I… I never really thought of it like that.” “Well, that’s how I think about it.” Dash nodded with a tired smile, “When I bother to think about things at all that is. So hey! Don’t worry. You mean a lot to me, too.” “...thanks, Dash.” Sunset did her best to hide her sniffle, “Been saying that a lot recently.” “Hey, for you?” Dash yawned, “Always. Now… After all the demon stuff and things… I’m really tired.” “Perhaps we should try going back to bed then?” Sunset suggested with a chuckle. Dash seemed to agree, lying back down in response and yawning. Sunset smiled, shaking her head and pulling the covers up for her friend. After leaning in for a moment, Sunset stood up and made her way over to the recliner to pass out as well, for a more peaceful rest this time. For a split moment before grogginess overtook Dash for the night, her mind registered, ‘Huh...Sunset just… kissed me.’ Losing power to the house was certainly a frustrating thing to deal with in the middle of the night. Guiding your way down the hall by candlelight was no way to live in the 21st century, but Applejack had dealt with worse in her time living on the family farm. She only hoped that wouldn’t be compounded by the current banging coming from the front porch. The stairs creaked lightly beneath her as she stepped her way down to the living room. “Ah’m comin’, ah’m comin’.” She muttered, not speaking loud enough to wake her family, if they weren’t already that was. Applejack had tried to ignore the banging at first, but after so long of continuous noise and incomprehensible calls from outside, it being past four in the morning stopped mattering. With an annoyed grunt, she pulled the door open to glare at whoever was out and about this late. “APPLEJACK!” The screeching girl before her was manic, hair on-end and pointed at every different direction. Twilight’s face was so creased with worry that Applejack doubted Rarity’s mountain of de-wrinkle cream would even scratch the surface of it. “WHERE. IS SHE?! WHAT IN TARTARUS IS GOING ON?!” “WHAT IN TARN-Twilight?!” AJ had jumped back from the visage, nearly dropping the candle in the process, “What’re you doin’ here!?” “WHERE IS SUNSET?! WHY ISN’T SHE ANSWERING MY MESSAGES?! I LEFT HER HERE WITH YOU ALL TO HELP HER!” She grabbed Applejack by the front of her pajamas, shaking her roughly. Twilight herself was shaking like mad, her pupils small. Applejack could practically feel her brain rattling around in her head, “Twilight! Stop shakin’ me! Ah don’ know where she is! Sunset and Rainbow are gone!” Twilight paused. “Gone? What do you mean, gone?” All at once, it stopped. Twilight’s shaking and her shaking of Applejack just froze in place, but Twilight’s insanity remained. “She can’t be gone. No no no, I left her here with you all!” “No, Twilight, ah mean they left! We haven’t seen them in a few days, but Principal Celestia told us they transferred schools.” She sighed, rubbing her face, heavy circles clear under her eyes, “And it's our fault, the girls an’ ah.” “...Tell me everything. What happened?” Twilight demanded. AJ sighed, gesturing past her, “Come on in. It's cold out, and it's a bit of a story…” It was going to be a very long night. She could feel it.