//------------------------------//
// New World, Old Faces 
// Story: EoH Evolution Special: Equestria Girls/Kamen Rider Bahamut: Origin 
// by Bahamut0 
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"Whoa. . . " Twilight said to herself as she stumbled out of the portal. "I feel so disoriented. And my back feels a lot lighter for some-" Twilight felt around her back, and discovered that she no longer had her wings! ". . . reason."

"You're not the only one who's gone through changes." Spike's voice said from below. Twilight looked down at her feet, and saw that Spike had turned into a purple puppy! "Glad to see you still look the same Twilight. But, I wouldn't say the same about your outfit."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, and looked at her reflection. "Huh. I remember this during my teen years. I also look a bit younger. I'd say around high school age." She then returned her attention to Spike. "Maybe there's a spell I can cast to get you back to your old dragon self." Twilight tried to power up her magic, but nothing happened. "Weird. Why isn't my magic working? For that matter, why can't I feel it. . . "

Twilight had come to a shocking revelation about this new world. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't feel any magic. At all. "There's no magic here. . . " Normally, Twilight would have panicked. But thanks to training from Burst Stream, she'd gained a greater handle on herself. "Well, at least it's a body I'm used to. How're you getting the hang of your new body Spike?"

"Not too bad." Spike said as he ran forward, rolled around, and sat. "I bet Night Fang would love to hear that this happened to me."

Twilight rolled her eyes with a knowing smile on her face as she scooped up Spike into her arms. "We can tell our friends all about our little adventures here when we get back. Right now, we'd better get some answers.  After all, how hard could navigating a high school be?"

Unfortunately for her, Twilight soon got her answer. A few seconds after she'd gone through the doors, a mob of students burst out from the doors of their recently ended classes! Crowding through the halls as they rushed to get their books and other supplies for the next class in their schedule!

"How does anyone get past this?!" Twilight thought out loud as she struggled to fight through the movements of the crowd! Finally, she managed to get flung into a nearby hallway! "Well. . . at least I'm out of the chaos for the moment. Maybe now I can get some exploration done without nearly getting trampled."

As Twilight wandered the hallway, she noticed a troubling sight. Before her was a girl getting bullied. Said bully was wearing a pair of boots, an orange skirt, a magenta top, and a black leather jacket. But what set alarms off in Twilight's head was the familiar mane of red-and-yellow hair. Beside her was a young man with light-gold skin, and dark gold hair. His clothes seemed to reflect his existing color scheme. A red jacket, light gold pants, red sneakers, and a shirt with a phoenix on it. And it looked like he was joining in on the tormenting.

"Did you really think you could really get away with taking what's mine?!" Sunset Shimmer snapped angrily! "What, did you think that you could honestly stand up to me?!"

The boy beside her scoffed. "You know full well what happens to idiots who think they can beat us. What was the name of that student who was stupid enough to go up against us again? Ah yes. Burst Stream. But then again, you don't need him. Not when you've got that towering thug always watching your meek little back."

"D-Don't talk about Ty that way. . . " The girl said quietly as she tried to shrink away from her two tormentors.

"Leave her alone!" Twilight said defiantly as she marched forward to the girl's aid! Glaring at the two bullies in front of her!

Sunset blinked before sneering. "Obviously, you don't know how things work around here. What do you think Goldenrise?" She asked the boy next to her. "Should we explain how things are run in Castalot High?"

"And what would this 'explanation' happen to entail?" A familiar voice asked. A young man that looked like Tyrannus Rex had arrived on the scene! Standing protectively in front of the girl. Both bullies seemed to flinch at his arrival! "If either of you lay a hand on them, I'll make sure neither of us are on school grounds when I decide to hit back. I consider myself a tolerant individual. But I won't let you do as you please to my girlfriend."

Goldenrise scoffed. "Big words from a big man. But can you really prove we're in the wrong? Look how well that turned out for Burst Stream. I've gotta say, I'm disappointed that someone like him surrendered so easily to us? It pains me to see such a good friend of mine to see him in his state."

". . . If you don't have anything better to do, then leave." Tyrannus growled. And with that, the pair of bullies left. Ty then turned his attention to the girl against the wall. "Did they hurt you Fluttershy?"

This confirmed Twilight's suspicions. "Is she all right?" 

"Yes. I'm fine." Fluttershy said with a small smile. "It was very brave of you to do that. No one's ever stood up to Sunset Shimmer before."

Tyrannus sighed. "Almost no one."

"Well. . . that being said, you're welcome." Twilight said with a smile. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. And as you've probably guessed, it's my first day here."

"Name's Tyrannus Rex. But call me Ty, please." Tyrannus nodded. "You'd better see Principal Celestia. You're going to need a schedule if you don't want to wander around aimlessly. Fluttershy and I will take you there. Follow us." With Tyrannus and Fluttershy guiding her, Twilight found herself at the door of the principal's office. 

"Wait." Ty said before Twilight went inside. "Thanks for earlier. Everyone here is miserable because of those two, but there's practically no one who would stand up to them. You've gut more guts than half the school. And for that, you've got my respect."

Twilight smiled. "I'm used to dealing with big bullies. So are a lot of friends of mine." And with that, Twilight headed into the principal's office. The Celestia of this world acted very much the same as the one Twilight knew from Unity. Twilight then decided to ask the big question. "So, have you seen a crown around here? It's gold and has a starburst symbol on it."

"Oh, you mean the crown for the Princess of the Fall Formal?" Principal Celestia asked. She then showed Twilight some pictures of the crown. On Sunset Shimmer's head. "Every year, we crown a princess for the dance. The crown is given to her after the school has cast its votes. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Twilight shook her head. "No thank you. I've gotten all my questions answered. I'm off to class!"

"My door is always open." Principal Celestia said with a warm smile as Twilight left.

Classes weren't all that difficult given Twilight's learning ability. She had managed to settle in quite quickly. It's not that different from learning at Princess Celestia's school back home. The bell for the end of class rang, and Twilight whipped our her schedule. "Looks like it's lunch period now." 

Twilight headed to the cafeteria, and noticed that the whole cafeteria was split into different groups. That is, save for one table consisting of this world's Inferno, Tyrannus, Steel, Magnet North, and Akage! 

"Excuse me?" Twilight asked. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

Inferno smiled at her. "Hey, you're that girl Ty was talking about! Nice to finally see someone stare down Sunset Shimmer! Name's Inferno Flare! And as far as I'm concerned, you're welcome at this table anytime."

"Thanks!" Twilight said with a smile. "Hope you don't mind me asking, but why's the rest of the cafeteria so specialized?"

Inferno frowned. "You can thank Sunset Shimmer and Goldenrise for that. Ever since they showed up, things slowly got worse and worse!"

"So why don't they tell Principal Celestia or Vice-Principal Luna?" Twilight asked. "Can't they do anything about them?"

Magnet North shook his head. "I'm afraid not lass. Those two are really good at hiding all their bad deeds. And to top it all off, they're really good at blackmail. Anyone who could speak out can't." He then sighed. "And a good friend of ours knows that silence all too well."

"What. . . happened to Burst Stream?" Twilight hesitantly asked. This instantly got the entire table's attention. "Oh, I don't know him." Well, that's half true. "I just heard Goldenrise mention him when he and Sunset were bullying Fluttershy in the hallway earlier."

Inferno took a deep breath. "If you want to find Burst Stream, he won't be out here. He'll be at place where he'll probably be alone."

"Why alone?" Twilight asked.

Steel Edge looked nervously over to Twilight. "Hey. . . should I tell her?"

"I'm his best friend Steel." Inferno Flare said sadly. "It should be me." He then directed his attention back at Twilight. "You heard what Goldenrise said about what he did to get Burst to not stand against him?" Twilight nodded. "Well, Burst had a crush on Principal Celestia. He never had any foolish ideas of getting romantically involved with her, but he did want to get it off his chest. And one day, he got the courage to at tell her about it and get it out of his head."

Inferno Flare then narrowed his eyes. "And then Sunset Shimmer and Goldenrise went and turned it into the worst day of his life. Burst Stream was one of the few people who stood against them. He wasn't afraid to do the right thing, and tell them he wasn't going to let them. But he always got so close when they slipped away! They'd always play innocent right when us and Burst were close to nailing them!"

"That sounds so frustrating." Twilight said. "So how did Principal Celestia figure into this?"

Inferno Flare sighed. "Well, she's pretty good friends with Burst's family. Especially when his dad disappeared. He used to see her a lot as a kid, and started developing a crush on her. And that's what Sunset and Gold used to their advantage. Burst and our principal would occasionally go on outing together. They weren't dating, but the pictures Sunset and Goldenrise took could be taken way out of context. And if pictures like that were released? Well. . . let's just say we'd be in the market for a new principal and Burst wouldn't be going here anymore. The fact that they knew about his crush only added weight to their blackmail."

"That's so horrible. . . " Twilight said in total shock. Clenching her fist in outrage at Sunset Shimmer's actions. "Tell me where I can sign up for being Fall Formal Princess."

"Head for the gym." Akage answered. "Pinkie Pie should be there setting up decorations for the dance. Talk to her, and she'll sign you up."

Twilight nodded. "Thank you." And with that, she made her way to the gym. Pinkie Pie was just as random and excitable as Twilight remembered. 

"Sooo, what brings you here?" Pinkie Pie asked cheerfully. Twilight was about to answer when she heard Applejack's counterpart for this world come in with a crate of fizzy apple cider. As soon as Pinkie Pie confirmed the order, Twilight got to her reply.

"I'm here to sign up for the Fall Formal Princess contest." Twilight answered.

Applejack spit out her drink! "I wouldn't do that if I were you. The last girl who ran against Sunset Shimmer was totally trashed." Applejack then explained how Sunset Shimmer sabotaged each opposing candidate by either rumors of blackmail. "In short, you'd best watch your back."

"Don't worry." Twilight said with a smirk. "I know how to handle myself." And with that, Twilight Sparkle officially signed up in the running for Fall Formal Princess. It must have been fate then that Sunset, Goldenrise and their lackeys Snips and Snails burst through the gym doors. Pinkie Pie managed to rush Twilight through the nearest exit. Sparing Twilight the furious look on Sunset Shimmer's face as she saw Twilight's name on the candidate list.

"Who is this Twilight Sparkle?" Sunset asked coldly.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "Glad I got out of there before things got nasty." She wandered off a little, and saw a familiar figure sitting under the stairs. White jacket, blue jeans, black sneakers, shirt with a Blue-Eyes White dragon on it. Yep. This was Burst's counterpart. "Burst Stream?" Twilight calling his name caught by surprise. "I was wondering if we could talk?"

"So you're the one who's taking a stand." Burst Stream said with a nod. "Listen. You don't know what you're getting into. Take my advice. Stop. NOW."

Twilight shook her head in disappointment. "Don't tell me you're seriously letting bullies like Sunset Shimmer and Goldenrise rule the school with fear and misery?!"

"You don't understand! I have to keep out of it!" Burst Stream snapped! "I don't want anyone else getting hurt!"

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "I KNOW why you're staying out of this! But how can you live like this?! Knowing that this whole school's being terrorized and people are suffering?! What would your dad think of you?!" Hearing this, Burst Stream visibly stiffened before getting up to leave. "Oh no. . . Burst, wait! I'm sorry if I went too far! I-!"

"Don't apologize." Burst Stream said flatly before looking at Twilight. "You said you wanted to talk? Meet me at the entrance when classes are done. It'll be easier to talk at my place." And with that, Burst began to leave. "Hope you like cookies. Mom made some this week."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Well, into the dragon knight's den. . .