//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: First Strike // Story: Sunset the Shadowbolt // by snq144 //------------------------------// “Heya, Sunstrike.” Sunset smirked as her human self opened the door to her room, a tired look to her eyes. “We need to talk.” “Y-You… Did… Something to me…” Sunstrike said, leaning heavily against her door frame. “Th-This morning… You…” “Yeah, I did; and now I’m gonna fix it.” Sunset said as she walked into the room, right past Sunstrike. “Now close the door. We need privacy.” Sunstrike slowly closed the door, before slumping against it as Sunset look around, her hands on her hips as she studied the room. “Hmmm… Rather simple in here. I guess we actually aren’t exactly the same. How odd. First some sound proofing and anti surveillance I guess...” “Fix… This…” Sunstrike said as she stumbled towards Sunset, trying to glare as the other girl snapped her fingers. “Ah, right. Here ya go.” Sunset said, turning around and snapping. Sunstrike instantly felt the mass of cotton filling her mind vanish, her brains finally able to process things at one hundred percent again. “What did you-?” she started to ask as Sunset flopped down onto her bed. “Magic.” Sunset responded simply, a small smile on her face. “...What…” Sunstrike narrowed her eyes, completely unamused at what Sunset was doing. “Yea, yea, I know what you’re thinking- Wait, why don’t you say it yourself!” Sunset smirked as she snapped her fingers again. “-ou are so full of shit that- Hey! What the hell!?” Sunstrike took a step back as she found herself unable to think without speaking. “What is this- Why am I- How-” “Like I said. Magic.” Sunset shrugged her shoulders as she playfully kicked her legs back and forth. “Now do you wanna actually listen to me? Cause I’m gonna let you know all about me. Well, more or less…” Sunstrike crossed her arms. “Fine, but why are you telling me this now?” “Cause no one will believe you.” “Asshole!” “No, I’m being serious. If you, Sunstrike, walked up to Starlight Glimmer and said, ‘Hey, Starlight, did you know Sunset can use magic?’ Everyone would laugh at you and call you stupid.” Sunset explained simply from the edge of the bed. “I- Well how do I know that what you’re saying is even true?” Sunstrike asked belligerently, watching as Sunset slowly stood up and walked over to her, holding out a hand. “What are you-” “Take my hand. Trying to teleport both of us is going to be hard without you holding my hand.” Sunset said, looking Sunstrike straight in the eye. “Wha-” “Oh- Never mind!” Sunset snapped, reaching out and grabbing one of Suntrike’s hands before with her other hand. There was a loud ‘Pop!’ and suddenly the two clones were standing across the street from the Crystal Empire Mall. “What the fuck!?” Sunstrike yelled, looking around in shock before locking eyes on Sunset. “What did you do!?” “Like I said, I teleported us.” Sunset said as she let go of Sunstrike’s hand. “No, I- I refuse to believe this is happening right now!” Sunstrike said, backing away from Sunset. “Magic isn’t real!” “It is real, just… Just not so much on this world.” Sunset said slowly, reaching out her hand again. “Come on, we should go back to your room.” Sunstrike paused as she looked down tentatively at the offered hand, before reaching out and grasping it. “What a fucking day this has been…” she said as a second loud ‘Pop!’ filled the air, before she was once again standing in her bedroom. “Well it’s gonna get even more of a day…” Sunset said as she sat down once more. “So, why don’t I tell you why I look exactly like you, minus the scar, and how I seem to know so much about you.” “Please.” “I am you.” “...” “Okay, let me reword that.” Sunset chuckled at the look she was getting. “I am you, but from a different world, one where magic is very much real. It’s called Equestria-” “Fuck off-” “And it is populated by, yes, Equines.” Sunset snapped her fingers and a spectral projection of her pony self appeared in the air, rotating around slowly. “This is what I looked like. I was a unicorn.” “What the hell…” Sunstrike watched with familiar interest as the pony floating in the air continued to rotate. “Then why do you look like me?” “Because of how I got here. Whatever magic the portal uses makes sure to make whatever passes through look like what it would in that world. So, for example, if you crossed the portal to Equestria, you would look like that.” Sunset nodded towards the projection. “But then how can you use magic here? Didn’t this portal transform you into a human?” Sunstrike turned towards Sunset with ample curiosity. Oh the joy of getting to learn something new. “Indeed it did, however humans can indeed use magic, it’s just that your world here is so… Barren, shall we say. I have yet to see magic actually used here until myself.” it wasn’t a total lie, Sunset was the first person to use magic in this world that she knew of. Except may be the Sirens? “Then how are you doing it?” Ah, the equivalent of a young child asking where children came from. Sunset should have expected this better. “Because I can.” she shrugged with a confident smile. “I was quite a powerful back in Equestria, probably the second strongest magic user in that world.” “Then who was the strongest? And why did you leave?” Sunstrike grabbed the simple chair from her desk, sitting on it as she closed in on Sunset. “That would have been my teacher, in both regards.” Sunset said after a moment. “I ended up coming to this world and studying at Canterlot High School for a few years before transferring here to potentially further my education. Sadly there doesn’t seem to be anything new here to study.” “I knew you weren’t from Great Bridal!” Sunset chuckled as Sunstrike softly cheered. “The school had no record of a Sunset Shimmer ever studying there, but CHS did. So you were the bitch that ran that school up until that whole Anon-A-Miss thing then! And all those videos weren’t CGI!” Sunset froze, running a finger across her scar subconsciously. “Yes, that was all real. Those three hippocampus looking things in the air from the Battle of the Bands? Those were the three girls you saw me with the other night. They’re also from Equestria.” Sunstrike sat there quietly, coming to terms with everything that she had heard. “Well shit… Does anyone else knew about this?” “At this school? No, just you. And it’s going to stay this way. Think of it as my apology for acting so weird around you since I arrived.” “So just like that we’re supposed to be friends?” Sunstrike chuckled as she looked at herself sitting on the bed. “I know me, and friends aren’t what we do. But what I do need, is a good partner for taking down Starlight.” Sunset smirked as she looked up at the girl. “I got just the thing now to ruin her forever- and her little group of cronies. One of them is already eating out of my hand, and I’m gonna shatter them tomorrow morning. What I need is someone else to help me- Indigo, Lemon, Sour, Sugarcoat, and Sunny Flare are all on my side, and they’re gonna be good assets, but I need someone more… talented.” “If you really think you can bring down Starlight, I’ll be at your side.” Sunstrike smirked as Sunset slowly stood up. “Awesome. I’ll see you in the morning then. Just remember that we never had this conversation.” Sunset chuckled as snapped her fingers, Sunstrike shaking her head before smiling as she realized she didn’t immediately say what she was thinking. “Good talk, Sunstrike.” Sunset said as she exited the girl’s room, no response coming from her other self. “All right, next on the itinerary is…” A door opening to Sunset’s side drew her attention, a lavender hued girl carrying a familiar shaped exiting it. “Of course! There we are, I knew I was missing something.” “U-U-Umm… H-H-Here you go, S-S-Sunset!” Twilight stuttered as she handed the Sunset’s laptop back to her. She was shaking like a tree in a tornado as Sunset took the device out of her hands. “I-I-I, U-Umm-” “Don’t care, traitor.” Sunset spat as she tore her laptop out of the girls hand, tears building in the corner of her eyes. “Now go back in your hole.” Sunset paid no attention to what Twilight the Traitor did, instead walking to her room and swiping her ID across the lock, entering slowly and walking over to her desk, depositing her laptop before walking over to pause in front of her bed. Her hands lingered on the chain of her necklace, her hands shaking as she removed it, only to place it around the neck of her replica pony self, a slight frown coming to her face as she caressed it slowly. So much had been given for this chance to bring Starlight down from her pedestal. She just hoped it would be worth it in the end… Sunset walked over to her second laptop sitting beside her desk, she couldn’t trust her old one for now, she’d send it off to Chrysalis to look over first. For now, she set the silver laptop up on the desk, flipping it open and starting it, before turning towards her necklace and holding out a hand. She sat there for a moment, reaching out, before slowly her necklace began to glow, and a reddish mist seemed to pour out of it and floating towards her, gathering around her finger. “I hope this works…” she said as the mist finished gathering around her hand. Sunset turned back towards her laptop, moving her mist wrapped hand towards one of the open ports among the devices side. Would Magic and Technology even work together? The laptop’s screen flickered for a moment as the mist started to flow into the device, the colours flashing rapidly before settling, and a familiar pop up appeared in the lower right hand corner, a cold smile spreading across Sunset’s face. (\/):.:(\/) The week continued on quietly as Starlight kept quiet around Sunset, though rumours had started to spread among the student body like wildfire thanks to just how odd the prefect had been acting, almost manic at points students described. Sunset took a sick pleasure in watching the girl struggle so, but not as much as when she used her magic to manipulate her. A simple slip of the tongue here, a raising of the voice there- even teachers could be heard asking one another if she was alright. Sunset yawned as she stretched in her seat, the rest of the girls around the lunch table talking to one another. “So what did you think of that math test, Sunstrike?” Her human counterpart scowled playfully as she looked up from her meal. “ Oh fuck off, Miss-Hundred-Percent-Before-Anyone-Else-Finished!” Sunstrike had started joining Sunset and other five girls for lunch, melding in seamlessly after Sunset informed them of what was going on, and all six native Shadowbolts heavily approved of Sunset’s actions as she slowly started to spread her roots throughout the school. Almost every student had been cataloged by now, different levels of threat assigned, and blackmail sorted based on potential potency. Why, even some of the teachers had things to hide. Sunset felt her pocket vibrate; most likely another message from the Sirens or those fools at CHS who thought her to be the human world’s Sunset Shimmer. Either way, she had no time for them right now. She needed to set her plans in motion, and for that she would need pawns. She tapped the table, drawing the attention of the six other girls as she held a finger up to her lip. “I’m going to start breaking up Starlight’s main group of lackeys, Suri, Tempest, and Twilight.” “How?” Indigo Zap asked quietly between bites. “Starlight’s had them in her pocket since before day one!” “Well remember how they took my laptop? I got a service report saying that there was some unknown spyware installed during the time Twilight had it.” Sunset chuckled as they looked at her in confusion. “I show that to Dean Cadence, mention how this happened while Starlight was having Twilight look into my system for her, and Cadence will pull Twilight away from Starlight, as well getting her to pay more attention to her instead of me.” “Two birds with one stone.” Sugarcoat monotoned. “Simple, but effective. But what if she doesn’t?” “Oh dear Dean Cadence is quite protective of her poor little niece- any potential trouble for her name will be hidden quite quickly.” the other six girl’s nodded in agreement. “Tempest is already dealt with, in fact, she’s my mole on the inside.” “But that girl would die for Starlight!” Sunset was surprised that Lemon Zest was able to speak as quietly as she did. A cold smirk spread across Sunset’s face as she looked at the audiophile. “Would. She’s, shall we say, disenfranchised with Starlight now.” “Then what about Suri? She’s given pretty free reign to do as she wishes around the school.” Sour Sweet asked, her face disfiguring in disgust. “That bitch steals everything!” “Well she’s the weak one of the group, but she’s being left for last- more or less. Come Monday, Starlight should no longer be in charge here.” Sunset sat back with a proud look. “Then what about us? What are we supposed to do?” Sunstrike asked, looking confused. “Simple. I’m going to give you guys some rumours to start spreading- after all, each of you are connected to the various cliques.” “That’s it? Rumours? They don’t work around here.” Sunny Flare tilted her head as she furrowed her brow. “Trust us, we’ve tried.” “Oh, these aren’t just rumours. Trust me.” a cold shiver ran down each of the gathered girl’s backs as they took in Sunset’s expression. (\/):..:(\/) Sunset almost smirked as she pulled the falsified paperwork out of her bag; a lengthy report Chrysalis had forged for her explaining all the fake spyware and tracing software that hadn’t been installed on it. But Cadence didn’t need to know that. “Come in.” came Cadence’s somewhat muffled voice through her door after Sunset had knocked. “Ah, Sunset. What can I do for you?” Sunset walked up with an annoyed frown before forcefully thrusting the sheet in front of Cadence’s face. “Care to ask Twilight why the laptop she was looking at under Starlight’s order came back to me filled with spyware?” Cadence’s brow furrowed as a deep frown built on her face- Sunset took a dark pleasure watching a hint of worry start to build in the pits of her eyes as she looked back up at Sunset. “Surely this-” “This system was bought brand new here in town, and all I had used it for was social media, and studying. Hell! Look at the notes! They were all installed while under her care!” Sunset fumed angrily, starting to loom over the woman. “You remember that meeting with her at the start of the week, right? She specifically said that she had Twilight look over my system- and then it ended up riddled with tracking software!” “I-I understand, Sunset. I-I’ll call Twilight in later and ask her about it.” Sunset held back a snicker as she watched Cadence try and force a disarming smile in an attempt to calm down the apparently raging teen. “Not good enough!” Sunset half shouted as she leaned onto the table. “I want Twilight here now!” Cadence relented, thankfully for her sake, and shifted over to her phone. Sunset knew Twilight was in the library- she always was for an hour after school- and it seemed the Dean knew that as well. Sunset alternated between standing and pacing in circles as the two waited for Twilight Sparkle to arrive, until a soft knock heralded her coming. “Y-Yes, Dean Cadence?” Twilight started to ask as she peeked through the door, only to freeze when she saw a positively furious Sunset scowling at her. “Y-You wanted to…” “Please, come in, Twilight.” Cadence said as she stood up, motioning for her niece to enter. “We have something we need to discuss.” The petite teen gave an audible gulp as she slid into the room, shutting the door behind her as she shifted up towards the woman with a cowering step. “W-W-What is this about?” “I understand Starlight Glimmer had you look over Sunset’s laptop the other day.” Cadence started, earning a jolt from Twilight before she gave a barely noticeable nod. “Well Sunset here has paperwork from a local service store showing that a massive amount of spyware was installed during that time.” “W-W-What!?” Sunset enjoyed watching Twilight start to panic, to squirm in front of her. “B-But I never-” “Are you saying you left it open for others to use then!?” Sunset turned on Twilight, preventing her or Cadence from getting a solid footing in the conversation. “Not only did you two steal my laptop-” “Sunset, please, calm down.” Cadence held a hand out towards the girl, an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sure it was just an accident.” “Accident my ass! My laptop was stolen from me, and then I get it back only for it to be laden with viruses!? Either your niece here installed them, or she allowed someone else to- and now I’m out money because of it!” “I-I-I didn’t do it! I-I-I wasn’t told anything about putting viruses on your laptop!” Twilight looked like she was trying to melt into the floor as she backed a half step away from Sunset. “Sunset!” “Oh! Then you let someone else do it then, huh!?” Sunset took a large step towards Twilight before Cadence stepped in between the two. “Sunset! Calm down before I ask you to leave!” Cadence said with a hint of anger forming in her expression. “I assure you that Twilight would never do anything like this- Nor would she allow someone else to!” “Yet I have the paperwork to prove it.” Sunset said, appearing as if she were calming down as she took two steps back. “Look, Starlight has it out for me, and she’s abusing her relationship with Twilight obviously.” “No she isn’t!” Twilight had tears running down her face as she tried to defend Starlight. “Sunset does have a point, Twilight.” Cadence said slowly, turning around to face the girl and resting her hands on Twilight’s shoulders. “I think for the time being you should stay away from Starlight. At least until things calm down a bit. I’ll talk to Starlight and tell her about this, and see if she knows anything about what happened with Sunset’s laptop.” “As if she’ll admit anything…” Sunset snarked while grinning on the inside. Just as planned… (\/):...:(\/) Friday ended with the spectacle of Twilight bursting out of Starlight's room in tears, earning a fit of malevolent laughter from Sunset as she took a bite out of an apple in the shared kitchen. Looks like it may be turning out even better than hoped, assuming that this scene wasn't a ploy from Starlight. Not that she cared- Twilight Sparkle from any world deserved to be chained in Tartarus for eternity. She finished the apple and tossed it in the compost bin before heading upstairs and pulling out her phone. She supposed it was time to call the Sirens back- after all, she'd been practically ignoring them all week almost. "Sunset!" the unicorn couldn't help but let a bark of laughter escape her lips at the sound of Sonata's joyous cry. "How have you been? You haven't returned our calls all week!" "[I'm fine, Sona. Just been tied up dealing with that certain someone here at school.]" Sunset responded in Equestrian as she sauntered over to the common area before flopping on one of the many couches. No reason to let anyone eavesdrop her. "[How about you three? Staying out of trouble I hope?]" "[As if!]" Sunset could tell Sonata was puffing out her cheeks in adorable rage. "[Aria keeps trying to mess with my paintings, and Adagio isn't doing anything to stop her!]" "[I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe when I visit this weekend I can talk to the two of them.]" "[You're coming to visit!? Yaaaaaaaay!]" Sunset had to hold her phone away from her ear, least she be deafened by Sonata's exultations. "[I'll have to go shopping for more taco ingredients!]" "[Heh, I have a feeling you won't take no for an answer.]" a genuine smile spread across Sunset's face as she listened to the bubbly Siren babble on about different foods she was going to purchase. "[Is Addy there? I'd like to talk to her.]" "[I think she's just upstairs, half a sec… Oi! Adagio! Hey Adagioooo! Sunset's asking for you on the phone!]" A tired and annoyed grumble could be heard on the line. "[There is no need to yell, Sonata… I've been listening the whole time...]" "[You coulda at least said hello then!]" Sunset was certain the Siren was sticking her tongue out as she responded to her leader. "[And what are you doing with a phone in the bath again!? How many sets have you ruined already!?]" "[Oh hush, Sonata; lest I sic Aria upon you.]" a fearful whimper could be heard from Sonata before she hung up, earning chuckles from the two Equestrians. "[So you are finally bringing it upon yourself to grace us with your divine presence, have you?]” “[Hey, I’ve been busy, alright? Starlight really stirred the hornet's nest recently.]” “[So Chrysalis told us…]” Adagio’s voice trailed off as Sunset heard water splashing around slightly. “[You haven’t seen Gilda or any of her goons by chance have you?]” Sunset furrowed her brow. “[No, I haven’t. Why?]” “[Well she’s out of the hospital now, and I don’t think I need to tell you that she is most likely still looking for you.]” Adagio almost sounded concerned as she spoke to Sunset. “[Well thanks for the heads up, but she’s the least of my concerns. Besides, the only ones that know I’m her are you three and the Principals- and even if she did come after me, with whatever and however many goons she wanted, I would handle her.]” Sunset poked at her necklace with a sly smirk. “[I appreciate the confidence, Sunset-]” “[And I appreciate the concern, Addy, but I’ll be fine. Trust me.]” Sunset cut the worrying Siren off. “[Anyways, I figure I’ll stop on in around noon, assuming all the buses run on schedule. That should give me some time to talk you and Aria into being nicer to poor Sona.]” A hearty chuckle escaped from the other end before Adagio responded. “[We shall see, my little Equine.]” There was a loud bang, followed by the distressed wail of Sonata before Aria’s voice boomed from the earpiece of Sunset’s phone. “Damn it, Sonata! I said I was sorry!” “By the sun above- WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME, ARIA BLAZE!?” Adagio bellowed, followed shortly by a quieter comment. “[I swear, millennia old and- I’m sorry, Sunset, but we will have to talk more tomorrow…]” The dial tone was all that heard Sunset’s uneasy response as she was left alone in the commons area, wondering just what happened now. She slowly got up, stowing her phone in her pocket before deciding to head up to her room. There was still a little bit of work to do on her project before it was perfect, and Sunset wanted to make sure to get everything done in one take considering that she only have six months at this school. Starlight’s comment about Crystal Prep being her school had been amusing to Sunset in the moment, but now she knew, the only thing Crystal Prep would remember about Starlight Glimmer, was how far buried in the ground she ended up.