//------------------------------//
// Light Born from Shadow - Part 1 
// Story: Power Rangers Shadow Force 
// by Layton13 
//------------------------------//

Footsteps, footsteps were the first thing one could hear from beyond the door. At first, they were distant, quiet, and almost impossible to pick up, but with every moment they came closer, fast. What at first was only the sound of one pair quickly grew into one of dozens that were rapidly getting closer and louder. Just as the steps were getting closer and closer, almost reaching the door, a new sound echoed through the hallway behind it. The door started to shake, struggling against the doorframe, threatening to break out from it accompanied by the sound of something heavy crashing against it.

Not even a second later the sound repeated itself, once again the door was struggling to give in, now accompanied by the groaning of the doorframe. One last time the sound echoed through the hallway followed by the loud splintering of wood as the door was forced open, swinging right into a shelf of the room behind it, out stumbled something black.

At a second glance, the figure turned out to be a slender woman, completely dressed in black clothes and a ski mask as well as a small wooden box under her arm. She almost fell on her face as she stumbled into the room behind the door, but before she could make acquaintances with the floor, she managed to catch herself and slam the door behind her shut, just in time before strange black creatures could swarm through it. Wasting no time, she immediately darted towards one of the shelves next to the door before throwing her whole body into it. 

The wooden shelf started to sway, but not yet enough, refusing to topple over, all while the sounds of echoing footsteps came ever closer. With a frustrated scream, she once again threw herself against the wood, this time finally enough to let the shelf fall over, right in front of the door. Just seconds later the sound of banging could be heard from the other side, the door slamming against the shelf, but thankfully it refused to budge. 

Letting out a sigh of relief, the woman pushed herself off the ground, taking a better look at her surroundings for the first time. The room was small, just seven meters in length and wide, but it was crammed full with stuff, treasures for some, junk for others like her. In front of her were small necklaces, boxes and other valuables scattered across the floor, spilled out from the shelf she just had thrown over. Around here were more shelf stuffed full with all kinds of items, who knew what one could find here if she went looking through it, but that all was secondary. What actually caught her attention was the window next to several crates, some of the open and empty with their lids next to them. 

The repeated sound of someone throwing themselves against the door snapped her out of her thoughts, however, and right back into action. Biting her lip, she dashed forward towards the window, trying to pull it down, only to be met with the frustrating realization that the window had been looked. Desperately she attempted to pull down the glass, only for it to not budge a single centimeter. Worst of all, this was the perfect exit, just a meter above the ground and leading to a back alley, if she could just-

“What are you doing you idiot?” It boomed through the hallway, letting her head snap back to the door. With even more vigor she tried to pull the window, but she was just not making any sort of progress as the voice once again shouted: “Away from the door you imbeciles, I’ll do it!” That simple sentence let her blood freeze inside her veins; she had to get that damn window open before he got in here or else… 

No, if the window hadn’t budged until now, it wouldn’t in the next five to ten seconds, and she really wouldn’t want to come face to face with this… this thing out there. With a frustrated sigh, she stepped away from the glass and looked back into the room for another exit, but much to her dismay she just couldn’t spot anything right now. Slamming her fist on the box next to her, she let out a frustrated groan only for her expression to change from tense to curious. 

Not thinking about it for even a second longer she dashed to one of the open boxes, grabbing a few coins along the way and jumping inside it, closing the lid over her just in time before a loud sound rocketed the room. What followed was the sound of wood slamming against the ground at the shelf she had pushed in front of the door was thrown across the room and shattered as it slammed into the wall opposite to it. She just watched all of this unfold through a small little hole in the wooden crate. 

Out of the doorframe stepped a massive creature, almost too big for it to fit through the door. It looked far from human but still walked on two legs. It was musculus, but instead of skin, his entire body was covered in purple chitin all while his chest had a turquoise shimmer to it. Two large red wings dragged behind him like some sort of cape. Two large red horns crowned his head with a third one right in the middle of them on his forehead all while two light purple eyes were darting across the room. In his hand, he held a strange double-bladed spear with blades that looked like the pincers of an insect.

With every step, the creature made the shelves were starting to shake a little bit, some coins falling to the ground. Not even moments after he had stepped into the room the other creatures stormed in, all looking quite similar to him, just in black chitin and green-blue wings and eyes as well as only one horn on their forehead. “She has to be here! Turn every stone in here and bring me the coins!” 

The woman swallowed, looking out of her hiding spot, watching as the monsters crawled around the room, throwing things off the shelves in their search for their precious coins. While this was happening, the woman pulled out a small item that suspiciously looked like a grenade and placed it on the ground next to the coins she had swiped earlier. She did all of this while the monsters out there were getting closer to the crates next to the window. With every passing second, she could hear the sounds of footsteps around her. 

Then it happened, the sound of a coin hitting the floor echoed through the room, louder than it had any right to be. For a moment the air in the room suddenly felt a hundred times heavier than before, and before she could even take another breath a bright purple beam of light shoot straight towards the boxes and in the blink of an eye, they had been reduced to splinters and rubble, taking the wall behind them with it. 

Dust filled the room, and no one dared to say a word, just staring at the destruction that had been just brought to the room, only for this silence to be interrupted by the sound of an alarm. “What are you standing around her? Get searching you idiots before the police gets here! We don’t have much time!” The large creature snarled at the other ones, which quickly snapped out of their shock and stormed towards the remains of what had formerly been the boxes. Just as they were about to start searching for the remains of the woman and the box she had carried around the sound of something else suddenly burst through the air. 

As the heads turned they could see the lid of another box at the other end of the room suddenly burst open and flying to the side, but before any of them could act a blinding light, accompanied by a loud bang consumed the entire room, followed by the sounds of feet running across the floor. “What?! This bitch! Get her! Get her!” He screamed, his minions staring to run in any direction that seemed right to them, only for the footsteps of the woman to be covered up by sounds of shelves falling over and monsters crashing into walls. 

As their vision finally returned again, the woman was gone, and only the open box remained. “I want her found, if she gets too far away we might-“ He got this far before he was interrupted by the roar of a bike engine that quickly grew quieter. It just took a second for him to realize what was going on, but to his dismay, the woman had already disappeared into the night, the last echoes of the engine disappearing as he reached the hole in the wall. 

Letting out a low growl, he slammed his fist against the broken brick wall, several of the bricks falling down. That was when things took a turn for the even worse; the sound of the alarm was starting to get drowned out by the sirens of approaching police cars. It was just a matter of time until they were here. Taking a last deep breath, he turned around to his minions: “The mission was a failure. We cut our losses and leave. I want every single one of you to escape without anyone noticing we were here, did you get this? After that, we will track her down and recover the coins, or else you will all regret it! Now, scram!” He barked, gesturing towards the hole in the wall. 

Within seconds all of them had rushed back into the building, the creature following behind them, his body starting to move and change until it had transformed into something resembling the shape of a human with light blue skin and dark blue hair in a police uniform. “Don’t worry, you can run, but no one escapes the Queen,” he chuckled, waiting for the other police officers to swarm the scene through the hole, mixing himself into their midst, no one the wiser. 


>-------<S>-------<


Beep! Beep! Beep!

That was the sound that rang through her ears, like an explosion on repeat. With a groan, she raised her hand to slam it down on the noisemaker only for her hand to miss the thing entirely and just slump down against the outside of her bed. Letting out a frustrated groan she once again raised her arm, flinging it around like she was swatting away a fly, but much like hitting one of the agile flying annoyances her efforts were entirely moot. This went on for a few seconds until a loud, muffled cry finally drowned the alarm out, the girl weakly rising from her sheets.

The morning light coming from the window above her bed was just as blinding as every day, making it impossible to make out anything in the agonizing shine, only worsened by the annoyance that was the alarm. When her eyes had eventually adjusted to the bright light in front of her, she slowly moved her arm over towards the alarm clock, leading out of her bed for a moment before the distant off button finally came into reach, silencing the dreadful noise for now.

Letting out a loud yawn the girl stretched herself, the loose shirt not hindering her in any way as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. After a few seconds, her eyes swayed over the clock, letting her know it was almost half-past six A.M. Letting out a silent groan she slithered out of her bed walking over to the mirror, looking at the sleepy girl with the pink skin and messy bright green hair that stared back at her. 

With a frown, Lemon Zest shook her head and dragged herself to the bath after picking up the uniform. School, it was time for school, oh how she resented that sentence after this whole summer. Half of it wasn’t as peaceful as one might have hopped with all the monster attacks, but it definitely beat school any day. At least it was exciting, something she couldn’t say about school in any way. Dressing up back in her uniform just felt so alien to her, but she knew she had to.

Well, at least this year shaped up to be at least a little bit different and fresh than the last few. At first, it was her last year in high-school, so that meant one year, and she was free, it also meant a buttload of work and learning. But even more important, the new principal! After word got out about what Principal Cinch had done at the Friendship Games, well minus all the talk about magic, it hadn’t taken that long for parents to get angry and within two weeks everyone had “suggested” that she leave. Dean Cadance, or more precise Principal Cadance was swiftly promoted right after, so things definitely looked up on this front, and then there was the other thing with the-

“Lemy! What is taking you so long? You’ll miss the bus at this rate,” her mom shouted up the stairs, Lemon just silently sighing before shouting back.

“Yeah, yeah mom, I’m on my way!” With that, she finally left the bathroom, dressed in her uniform, only to silently add: “Geeez!” She would have almost dragged herself done the stairs when she had noticed that she had forgotten one thing. Turning around in an instant, she once again went back into her room to pick up her phone and most importantly, her headphones. The moment they covered her ears, the world burst to life as the music filled her head with all kinds of beautiful beats.

With her newfound energy, she pretty much danced down the stairs, almost running right into her mom. She was dressed in her usual grey business suit that covered most of her orange skin, all while her lime green hair was tied up in a ponytail. She looked at her with a slightly annoyed look from her green eyes beyond the slick grey glasses. Letting out an annoyed grunt she pulled one of her ear cups away catching only half of what her mother wanted to say: “-out a little bit? I was getting kinda worried that you have fallen asleep again.”

“Sure mom,” she returned, dancing around her to the beat of the music and directly towards the kitchen. 

Her mother, Sweet Orange, on the other hand, just shook her head with a smile on her lips. “Just as always.”

Lemon meanwhile had pretty much jumped into the chair, almost knocking him over with all the force she had put into her lunge, not that she noticed, far to enthralled in her music. There was. However, one thing caught her attention, the two delicious white powdered donate in front of her as well as the smell of fresh coffee dancing around her nose. “Thanks, mom!” She shouted over her shoulder, seeing Orange putting on her high heels and already looking at her purse.

“No problem Lemy,” it came back to her, but she didn’t hear it through her headphones, already taking the first bite from her delicious breakfast only to suddenly burst out into coughing, spraying a good amount of the sugar all over the table. “Oh, Lemy, how often did I tell you not to swallow so much? You are practically inhaling the thing. This happens every time.”

Without even acknowledging what she had said, Lemon just continued to munch on her donut after the couching had stopped. Only after stuffing the last bit of the pastry into her mouth, she finally said something again: “Dad’s already gone?”

“Yep, Grapefruit had to go early today. There was an emergency in Mount Aries he had to deal with. Sorry Lemy that he couldn’t say goodbye, but he promised to get a present when he gets back,” she returned with a smile, only getting a distant nod from her daughter. With a little frown, she added: “Maybe even a new set of headphones, those ones without the cable you have been eyeing for a while now.”

At the mention of that Lemon snapped up, looking right at her with expecting eyes. “I knew I would get your attention that way,” Orange chuckled before sighing. “Have fun in school Lemy and try not to cause too much trouble because I’m not so sure if your dad would be so willing to give you your little present if he hears anything bad.” She was almost out of the door when she added one last bit with a sly smile on her lips: “Oh, and don’t tell him I said anything. He still thinks he could keep something like that secret from you and I don’t want to break his delusions.”

“Sure mom,” Lemon returned right before the door slammed close, leaving only her with her donut and music behind. For a few moments, she looked at the closed door only to let out a silent sigh to eventually pull her headphones back over her ears, the music quickly overtaking her again. Within a few seconds, the second donut had vanished from her plate, and the coffee soon followed, washing down the remains of the pastry. 

With a loud yawn and a stretch she ultimately forced herself off from the table, picked up her backpack and skateboard and darted out the door, immediately jumping on the board and dashing away through the nice little suburb she could call her home. It was one of those high and mighty, wealthy suburbs. The kind that would cut the grass with scissors just to not stand out, or at least they would pay people to do that. Not that Lemon Zest cared about that in any way right now, she had a bus to catch, and she didn’t intend to be late on the first day of school. 

The entire way to the bus stop was pretty much just one complete blur, the music just mixing with everything going on around her into one sensation that only ended when the bus-stop came into view, letting her realize that she had already taken the entire way. At first glance, the bus-stop was almost abandoned, she only recognized three people, two of which being Upper Crust and Jet Set, two of the most annoying people they knew. They had perfectly encapsulated what Crystal Prep was all about, being better than others and rubbing it in everyone's faces. Question was if that would hold true this year. The rest were just random students she didn’t even know.

But right now she cared more about the last girl on the stop that was absentmindedly looked at her phone with an expression even the best detective would have trouble reading. The girl with the grey skin and white-blue hair looked up from her screen and with an emotionless glare stared directly at her. While she had raced across the sidewalk relatively casually until now suddenly that became a lot harder as she skidded to a halt right in front of her friend, Sugarcoat.

“You are three minutes late, consider setting your alarm earlier,” she was greeted by her usual cold expression, but she could swear there was a bit of disappointment mixed in with it, only adding to the uncomfortable feeling that was swelling up inside her.

With an awkward chuckle and her rubbing the back of her head, she tried to avoid the gaze of her friend, her cheeks a bit red of embarrassment. “Oh, hey Sugarcoat, how is it going? Excited for school?” She dared to take another look at her friend only to still be greeted with the same expression, only now she was also raising an eyebrow. “Oh, come on Sugar! The bus still isn’t here, not like it’s that big of a problem, right?” She awkwardly added, trying to hide the embarrassment in her cheeks.

“You're still late,” was all she got in return, together with that icy, judging stare that let a shiver run down her spine. 

After a few more moments suffering under her stare Lemon finally carved, slumping down and letting her head hang low: “Ok, I’m sorry Sugarcoat, but I just couldn’t get moving today, it just feels so wrong, ok?” Lemon cried out in desperation, garnering attention from the rest of the students around them, most just looking at her in confusion, some shaking their heads before going back to their previous conversations and then there were Jet Set and Upper Crust, both letting out a loud chuckle before glancing over to her.

“Seems like hanging out with these Canterlot High girls rubbed off on her,” Jet Set said, pushing his glasses upward as he grinned a mischievous smile. Upper Crust quickly started to chuckle, much to Lemon Zest’s annoyance who snapped around, glaring daggers at them.

“Look, I think she heard you. Beware; she might torture you with her terrible music. I heard she was seen with that Canterlot High girl, that one with the earphones, maybe they are making something that is designed to drain the intelligence of everyone and not just them,” she added, a glare in her eyes. “I still can’t comprehend how anyone who attends Crystal Prep could like this braindead sound that masquerades as music. She should really be ashamed.”

“Strange, as far as I know, Principal Cinch still chose her over any of you two even if she would be as stupid as you two claim,” Sugarcoat simply said, Upper crust about to say something only for no word to escape her lips as they opened, leaving her standing there like an open mailbox, including Lemon Zest.

It, however, didn’t take long for her to snap out of that and start laughing, followed by chuckling from the entire station, both Upper Crust, and Jet Set glared daggers at them while their cheeks turned deeper and deeper shades of red. “Ok, you fucking rock Sugar, did I ever tell you that? Seriously, you are savage girl,” Lemon said, bumping her fist against her shoulder with a broad smile on her lips. Sugar just returned a weak smile.

Before either Upper Crust or jet Set could return anything the bus finally pulled up to the bus stop, the kids all immediately stormed towards the opening doors, drowning out any kind of response the two could have come up with. In the end, only Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest were left standing outside. “So, we probably should get on as well, wouldn’t be so good to be late the first day, right?”

Sugarcoat simply replied with a cold: “Yes, we should,” and without missing a beat, she stepped forward, followed by her friend. Like expected, most of the seats had already been taken, students were chatting and all in all, it was a typical day on the bus. It seemed Lady Fortuna was on their side for a moment when their eyes homed in on two seats right at the end of the bus, still unused, the last two. This was perfect, or at least that was their thirst thoughts, thoughts that quickly were replaced by the feeling of betrayal. Lady Fortuna wasn’t on their side; she was playing a prank on them. Right in front of the seats sat the two, Jet Set and Upper Crust, undoubtedly already gossiping over the last rumor they had heard. 

“Uhm, should we stand or-“ Lemon was about to ask before Sugar just continued to walk forward and plant herself right on the open seats without even blinking. With a silent sigh and a shake of her head, Lemon followed her friend, even if she didn’t like where this was going. But hey, at least she could escape into her music; Sugar could deal with these two any day of the week.

They hadn’t even sat down properly when they already heard the first of their little tirades. “I still can’t believe that we have to deal with these Canterlot High losers for an entire year! How does this even happen? I mean seriously, we are Crystal Prep, we shouldn’t deal with this! This would have never happened with Principal Cinch!” Upper Crust growled, almost spitting the words out.

“And I thought it was quite simple, but in case that was too high for you two I can tell you again.” Sugar didn’t miss a beat, saying that immediately after the girl had finished. “Their school was destroyed in a battle between a superhero and a supervillain, and now they have to rebuild it. That will probably take a year, and Principal Cadance offered their students and the entire faculty to use our facilities for the year. That should cover it in as simple a way as possible.” 

“I knew that!” She hissed back, glaring at her with the combined hate of thousands of suns, or the hate of an annoyed high school student, one could at times hardly tell.

“Didn’t seem that way,” was Sugars response, shrugged and turned back towards her friend before any of them could get even a word in. “Heard about what happened last night in Mount Aris?” 

Lemon just blinked for a moment before a devilish smile danced across her lips: “Nope, didn’t hear about it, but what’s so important about it? Did I miss a new band blowing up, a brawl at a concert or something like that? Because I don’t think so, I know about nearly every kind of musical stuff going on, and I would know that. So, what happened?”

“Someone stole something from a well-known auction house,” Sugar returned.

“Huh, so what is so exciting about that? I mean, what do I care what such an old and dusty auction house? I mean, they would have to steal the microphone of Countess Coloratura for me to care,” Lemon returned, her body sacking back into her seat as she looked slightly disappointed at her friend.

“I don’t know what has been stolen; they have been really secretive about that. But the reason I’m telling you this is because the police aren’t the ones investigating the case, that would be the MRG,” Sugar simply replied.

“The who?” She stared back, raising an eyebrow.

With a silent sigh, Sugar quickly returned: “You know, the government agency that came her half a year ago, the one that deals with magical stuff?” Sugar deadpanned, silently judging Lemon.

“Wait, those guys? So, does that mean that it has something to do with magic? That would be hella wild, wouldn’t it?”  In a second Lemon had gone from zero to a hundred, her eyes pretty much sparkling with excitement.

“I would say that when the government organization that deals with magic gets involved chances are high that it is magic related.” Her look was enough to let Lemon slam her hand against her head in embarrassment.

“Good point,” she sheepishly returned only for her embarrassment to fade as soon as another thought came to her. “Wait, so if these MRG guys are there, was there any talk about any of the Riders? It has been far too long since I have seen them in action. I’m starved on superhero shit, you know, a good monster-hero brawl?” 

“No,” she returned before pulling out her phone and starting to chat with someone. Lemon just looked at her for a moment, shrugged and put on her headphones.


>-------<S>-------<


The sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway as quite a muscular man with dark cyan skin, short, washed-out ruby-colored hair and a violate suit with amaranth tie stepped across the dark stone floor. A frown covered his face as he stopped in front of a large dark wood door, took a deep breath, and knocked on wood.

“Come in,” came from the other side and within seconds, the door had been pushed open, and the men stepped inside, taking in what stood before him. Two employees nodded to the person sitting in the chair and quickly left the room. “Ah, there you are, I was waiting for you. So, how did it go,” the woman asked him, smiling, but he definitely knew that undertone, she knew. 

“Uhm, Lady Chrysella, I’m sorry to inform you, but the operation was sadly not a success. We ran into a few… complications along the way,” he returned, every hair on his body standing on edge as he eyed her.

With a sigh, the woman stood up, the smile completely vanished from her lips. Her pale green skin shimmered in the light of the lamps as well as her pale orange hair. Still, her glare was unnerving, only worsened by the black business suit she wore. “Pharynx, I saw the news today and guess what I found there?”

“A report about a break-in at the Mount Aris auction house, lady Chrysella?” Pharynx carefully returned, avoiding the piercing glare of his boss.

“Exactly. I said this was a convert mission. No unnecessary attention, did I not? So, how exactly did this end up on the news? I want an explanation! Now!” Chrysella returned, her voice as cold as ice.

Pharynx nodded silently before starting: “I know, and I’m very much sorry for that, but we had an unsuspected competitor. She snuck into the backroom and was about to take the coins before we had the chance to even bid on them. She must have noticed that she would have flat out lost against our resources, no matter how well of they might be. We were lucky that one of my Drones managed to catch her in the act after I ordered him to replace one of the guards. She still managed to knock him out and ran away. But she couldn’t escape us, and we chased her into a dead-end, one of the storage rooms. That was where I made a terrible mistake,” he growled, clenching his hands into a fist.

“Yes, go on. I want to know what you did wrong,” she continued, the deadly glare still focused on him.

“O-Of course,” he muttered before continuing. “We had her cornered. There was no way out, but that was when I made my mistake. She tricked me with something, creating noise and I overreacted and blew up the wall. A minor leap in judgment that caused the entire operation to fail. What followed was a flashbang and in the ensuing chaos she escaped,” he finished, looking down at the floor in embarrassment. “But that doesn’t mean this is over. I will grab some Drones and will rip the coins from her cold dead hands if I have to! Tomorrow morning you will-“

That was as far as he got before Chrysella interrupted him with a simple hand gesture. “No! No, you will not! After what you pulled this night I can’t put this operation into your hands. You will just make far too much of a scene. I can’t have that, especially when we are so close to our goal.”

“But if we get these coins we will be done. We would have-“

“Far too risky! We don’t want to draw unwanted attention, especially with two Riders still in the city. If they catch onto us, all of what we worked for could fall apart in a short amount of time. That would definitely happen if I sent you. If this once again fails to be kept under radar people will see you, and if something too powerful shows up, we won’t be able to make a single step in the city. You got that? Send one of the Workers after them, give him a few Drones, and stay here. You got that? We need to do this carefully. Otherwise, we never would have gotten as far as we are now! Rash actions always lead to consequences, you saw this tonight, so remember that,” Chrysella returned, her voice stern and commanding. 

“Of course. As you wish. I will choose a fitting Worker and provide him with everything he needs. This shouldn’t be a problem. We will have the coins before any of these Riders know what happened,” he replied nervously and was about to turn on his heels and leave the room as her voice once again echoed through the room.

“Oh, and tell your brother he should monitor the Worker. I want to get everything out of this,” she added with a sweet voice.

“Of course mother,” he matter of factly returned before leaving the room.


>-------<S>-------<


As the bus pulled up in front of the school both Jet Set and Upper Crust pushed themselves out of the vehicle as fast as possible while Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest patiently entered the bus when all the rows had already emptied.

With an enthusiastic leap, Lemon jumped out of the bus, raising her fist into the air, music blaring in her ears. “Hey Crystal Prep, here I’m again! Remember me? I hope so because I’m gonna make this year as fun as possible!” She shouted across the entire courtyard, much to the confusion of a few people, most of the students she had never seen here, not even dressed in uniforms. “Uhm, hey Sugar, why aren’t they wearing uniforms?” She quickly asked her friend, pulling off one of her earcups.

“They are from Canterlot High. The principal decided that it would be a waste to let all of them buy new uniforms for a year and since they won’t be in any classes with us she said that there wouldn’t be any problems,” Sugar returned without even missing a beat. 

“I, for one, find this horrible! Look at them, all looking so… So… mismatched,” a voice suddenly said, it was a bit shrill and most certainly annoyed followed by a huff. “But it seems I have to get used to that from now on,” she added. It took her a few moments, but she recognized the voice.

“Sunny! What's up, dudet! How is it hanging?” Lemon spun around, immediately grabbing the girl and forcing her into a tight hug. The girl with the cyan skin and purple hair had no time to react. 

“Hey! Hey! You are making my uniform wrinkly!” She protested, but made no attempt to remove her by force, she also looked more startled than annoyed.

“Oh, right, sorry! So, how is it hanging?” She added, grinning from ear to ear when she noticed two other girls, one with yellow skin and pink hair with cyan streak tied into a ponytail and one with peach complexion and combed back long blue hair. “Hey Sour Sweet! Hey, Indigo Zap, how is it going?”

“Oh, good if you are interested and… You aren’t even listening anymore, are you?” Sunny huffed, crossing her arms in front of her and started pointing. 

“Seems you miss the hug,” Sugar added, Sunny glaring at her with newfound anger, through a small blush was visible on her cheeks.

“Oh, good, good Lemon, long time not seen,” Sour returned, smiling over both ears before her expression suddenly shifted towards a far sourer note. “It was just yesterday.”

“Glad to see you too,” she simply returned, either ignoring her snippy remark or just not noticing it.

“Yo! Lemon, how is it going?” Indigo pretty much screamed, right into everyone's ears before sprinting forward and nearly knocking Lemon over as she pulled her into a hug, leaving her with almost no way to breath, desperately struggling for air.

“Indigo, please don’t strangle your classmate before the school year even starts,” a somewhat tiered voice interrupted them, quickly all of their eyes turned towards the voice. “If you want to kill each other, please do it on your own time and not inside school. But if you ask me, it would be a waste to lose any of you five.” 

In front of them stood an older woman with pink skin, multicolored hair, ranging from purple to light yellow and a blue suit with a skirt, a blue purse under her arm. The usual smile they expected, however, was somewhat tainted one could say, Principal Cadance looked awfully exhausted, and her eyes were quite baggy. 

“Morning Dea- I mean Principal Cadance,” Lemon was the first to respond, having wrestled herself free from her friend's tight grip. “You look awful, so much to do? Being a teacher must be really hard,” she continued.

Cadance just chuckled weakly for a moment before saying: “Oh, it most certainly is very stressful, but rewarding in its own way, even if you sometimes have to sacrifice a good night sleep over it.” She took a quick look at her purse, eying it nervously before returning her attention back to her students. “But not like I’m not missing the sleep. Today I’ll probably sleep like a rock. If I’m gonna be honest, I was a bit nervous about the ceremony today. But oh well, not like I can just not do it,” she chuckled, suppressing a yawn. “So girls, see you later, I need a coffee before everything starts.” With that, she left the girls behind, rushing towards the school. 

“So… I guess we should get going as well? I mean, not like we have anything better to do, right girls?” Lemon nervously chuckled. Getting a unanimous nod from her friends before they all walked towards the school. What usually would have been a while crowded an easy way for them was today way worse; they had to push and shove, trying to get a good spot in the gym. One differently noticed the new students; the hall was filled to the brim when the principal started to speak.

“I thank you all for being here today, students of Crystal Prep as well as students of Canterlot High. The last year has been quite an eventful one for both our schools. The last Friendship Games had a profound effect on both of our school, showing us our mistakes and making it possible for us to move forward towards a brighter future. Furthermore, we are deeply sorry for the destruction of Canterlot High. But being stuck in the past is no way for anyone to move forward and like my father always said, there is a light in every shadow; we just have to find it. So let’s make our time here this year together something special, so both our schools will grow from this,” Cadance said, the tiredness pretty much gone from her voice. 

“Exactly! Our schools might have had their differences in the past, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us so that we may learn from each other. Crystal Prep was always known for its great students, and I hope some of my students can take that to heart,” Princepile Celestia added, now stepping next to Candance. “We all wish you a wonderful school year.”

After a round of applause, every single student in the hall pushed outwards, making the five girls feel like sardines in a can. It took one-two minutes until the tide of students had finally released them, the five now standing in the hall and watching as the avalanche of students from both schools swept past them. “I guess we should get going, being late on the first-“ Lemon sighed, letting her arms hang limply to her side when something caught her attention. In a second, her body jumped up, on high alert before she shouted: “Hey! Vinyl! Wait a moment!” And before any of her friends could even say a word she had already disappeared and was chasing after the white girl with the blue hair.

“We probably should go after her,” Sugarcoat said, her friends just sighing and nodding.

Meanwhile Lemon was pushing her way through the crowd until she suddenly burst free from them into an empty corridor with no one in it. That was when she shared the sound of a door closing, her attention immediately directed towards the sound. The door to the basement. Why did Vinyl go down there? With a raised eyebrow, she followed the girl, slowly stepping down the stairs, the door once again opening behind her as her friends followed her. But she didn’t dare to say a thing when she heard the voice of Vinyl: “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. You have no chance of winning this, so make it easy for us, ok? You value your life, right?” 

A cold shiver ran down her spine as she heard her voice, it was different, so cold and… threatening. She thought about just turning back now and forgetting that this had ever happened, maybe that was the best idea? However, that was when she heard another voice, one also very familiar. “Not in a thousand years. Your Queen will never get her dirty hands on this! This will just end like last time, and when that happens, you will never find them again.” It was the Principal's voice, and she sounded serious. 

“Why do you have to make this so difficult? There is no way you can win,” Vinyl growled before adding with a far deeper voice: “Oh well, Drones, take her!”

What followed the sounds of several feet running towards something, echoing off the walls of the basement only to be replaced by the sound of fists slamming against something hard. Meanwhile, in her head, her thoughts were like a wild whirlwind, being thrown around before any single one of them could be brought to a satisfying end. Should she help her principal, or rather run? She just didn’t know.

But still, her legs moved, entirely on their own as she dashed down the stairs, coming to a screeching halt when she reached the last step. In front of her was something she couldn’t quite comprehend right now, something that looked like black bipedal bug-creatures, most of them looking identical and they were fighting with cadance. But there was one that stood out from the seven bugs, a strange bug that had a different head, reminding her of a mantis of all things, only enhanced by the blades on the arms of the creature. 

“Lemon Zest? What are yo-“ Candace screamed out, staring at the girl as if her eyes were about to fall out of her head only to be interrupted. The mantis creature had taken that one moment of carelessness and had slashed at Cadance, cutting right through the straps of her purse, throwing it and its content right towards Lemon, Cadance landing on the floor.

Lemon just stared at the scene, unable to do anything, the sound of footsteps coming to a stop behind her. “Hey Lemon, you can’t ju-“ her friends tried to say only to fall just as silent Lemon. The condense of the purse had been thrown right in front of their feet, complete with five strange coins with a six-pointed star in different colors on them. She just couldn’t look away from them, almost like she was drawn to them.

“There! Get me the coins! Now!” She snarled, a devilish glimmer in her eyes.

“Girls, run!” She heard Cadance beg, the Drones storming towards them. For a moment, Lemon zest didn’t want anything else but to run, but she knew she couldn’t. She knew what she had to do even if she didn’t know how. With a loud scream, she dashed forward, grabbing the coin and rolling under the swing of the Drones with their two-sided spears. 

For a moment, all light in the basement seemed to be drawn towards her, swallowed even, the room drenched in more and more shadow. She could feel something tightening itself around her like it was crushing her, but only for a moment, she felt something different, something warmer. A bright red light erupted from her, dispersing the shadow that had gathered around her. She felt different, so much more alive, so much more…

Her thoughts were; however, rudely interrupted when the mantis monster let out a loud scream, landing at her with one of her blades. Lemon instinctively pulled her arms in front of her, forming a cross in hopes to stop the attack. She already awaited the blade slicing into her, but instead, she just felt resistance, but no pain. When she opened her eyes again, she stared directly at the mantis, desperately struggling to get her blade further, but was blocked by Lemon. She couldn’t believe it, this wasn’t real, right?

She just shook her head, she had time to think about that later, letting out a scream and pushing back against the mantis she managed to knock her off balance, Cadance just staring at her in absolute disbelief. With another shout she kicked the monster right in the stomach and against all laws of physics it just flew back, crashing into a few lockers that had been stashed down here. 

Then it happened again, the room was swallowed by darkness for a few moments, this time she could feel the warmth physically being drained from her only for light to return, in blue, green, yellow and pink. When she looked back, she could see her friends, each of them having picked up one of the coins.

“Im… Impossible,” Cadance just said, staring at what was unfolding in front of her.

“Bring me the coins Drones! And no excuses!” The mantis growled, the six other bugs storming towards the girls.

Indigo zap was the first to act, storming towards two of the bugs when she suddenly jumped up, grabbing hold of one of the pipes running across the ceiling. With a gracious swing, she shot herself forward, her feet slamming right into their chest and knocking them off-balance. “Awesome!”

Sunny Flare was the next that got attacked, one of the Drone stepping closer and closer towards her. She looked around the room for anything she could use to defend herself before she let out a resigned sigh, grabbing into her backpack. The bug was about to bring down his weapon when she pulled something from the bag, a perfume bottle. “You owe me you buggy freak!” She hissed and threw the bottle right into his face, shattering upon impact. Letting out a loud screech, the Drone stumbled back, his hands clutched over his face. Sunny just dashed forward and punched the bug right into the face, knocking him down.

While this had transpired Sour Sweet was desperately trying to avoid any and all attacks of the creature, but it had managed to corner her, nowhere left to run, or at least that was what the creature thought. It running straight after her she didn’t slow down, even if the wall was right in front of her, but instead used the wall as a way to push herself off from and right over the Drone. It could only run straight into the wall, followed by a kick to its back, letting some of the paint fall off the wall. 

The last two of them were meanwhile harassing Sugarcoat who had until now done an excellent job at evading their attacks. When one of them brought its weapon down on her once again, she seized the opportunity, dashing under the attack coming back up right next to him. What followed was a swift roundhouse kick that knocked one of the entirely of balance and sent him flying, right into the other one, both landing directly on their asses. “Huh, seems the self-defense training paid off.”

The mantis had in the meantime managed to get back up and glared daggers at Lemon before dashing towards her. Lemon let out a smirk as well and ran toward her as well. The bug raised its arm, ready to stab Lemon only for the girl to speed up her dash jumped to the side, circling the mantis-like it was nothing. At the moment the monster turned around, she was greeted with a fist aimed right at her face, a fist that sent her sailing right towards the stairs. One could hear the concrete give in under the force and weight of the beast as it crashed into the ground with its back. As Lemon looked down at her arm, she could see something like black smoke coming off it only to disappear as quickly as it had appeared.

When it slowly rose again, it stared at the five girls, standing triumphant in front of it. “Retreat!” The monster barked, holding his side while he did so. Within seconds the Drones forced themselves of the floor and dragged themselves back to their leader. “Don’t think this is over. Next time you won’t be so lucky,” it hissed when all seven of them ran up the stairs.

Lemon was about to run after them when she heard the voice of Cadance “Wait! Don’t! If you follow them now, you are gonna pull the other students into this!” With a sigh, she stopped before she could go after them. In the meantime, Indigo and Sugar had helped up the principal.

“Ok, Principal Cadance, I just have one question. What the fuck just happened?” Lemon asked, looking at the principal in utter confusion.

Cadance simply sighed and returned: “Yeah, I guess I owe you girls an explanation.”