The city was alive.
Hundreds—no, thousands of people walked to and fro like mulitcolored blood cells, and the city streets were the veins in which they traveled. In between the chaos, she could make out tiny moments of relative peace. Parents milled about on the front steps, tugging at their collars and cursing the sweltering summer sun overhead, all the while their children eagerly ran to the nearest hot dog stand with money in fist prepared to buy a taste of sweet, sweet Americana. A man’s body ebbed and flowed in time with every blow into the harmonica grasped between his hands, with others stopping to drop a few coins into a hat in front of him.
In other words, New York City had captured Sunset Shimmer’s heart like nothing else. And she was completely head-over-heels for it.
She felt a tap on her shoulder. Rainbow Dash stood right behind her, arms crossed. Behind her, tourists walked about.
“Hey Sunset, are you going to make out with the window or what? Hurry up already, or else we’re going to get lost from our tour group!” Rainbow Dash said, bouncing on her heels.
“Erm, yeah.” Sunset took one last look out the window before she tore herself away from it. The two started to make their way back to their classmates.
“Jeez, and here I thought Rarity had a thing for Manhattan.” Rainbow punched Sunset’s arm and smirked.
Sunset’s response was to mock-sooth where Rainbow had punched her and roll her eyes. “At least something interests me here, unlike yourself, Rainbow. When was the last time you appreciated the world you lived in?”
Rainbow shrugged as they found their way back their tour group. “I dunno. I’m too busy making it an awesome place just by existing in it.”
Sunset’s eyes rolled once more.
“Ah, Miss Shimmer, Miss Dash, so glad you two could join us,” Dr. Hooves said, his voice slicing through the crowd. Some of their classmates snickered. “Considering your incredible fascination with the museum, would one of you like to explain to the rest of the class which exhibit we’re in and why? How about you, Miss Dash?”
“Uhhhhh... we’re in the exhibit with a bunch of statues of ancient naked dudes from a long time ago?” Rainbow offered.
In the crowd, Applejack facepalmed and Rarity sighed. Dr. Hooves merely shook his head. “Miss Shimmer, care to give it a go?”
Sunset took a small glance around the exhibit. As Rainbow had said, if crudely, marble statues stood tall and proud along with a handful of black-and-orange pots housed in glass cases. Other tour groups filtered between them. Sunset swore one of the tour guides was staring at her, but she blinked and he was showing off some pots to his group. She shrugged it off.
“We’re in the Greek and Roman section of the Metropolitan Art Museum,” she said, pointing to a statue of a man and small girl. “That’s a statue of the Greek god Dionysus, or Bacchus, his Roman form, who was the god of wine, basically. And we’re here because it was what the summer field trip offered—a trip to New York City to visit the Met.”
Dr. Hooves looked surprised. “Well... I’m glad that one of you was paying attention when I handed out the readings. In any case, I’m going to hand out this worksheet—yes, yes, stop the groaning. I know, it’s dreadfully boring, but it’s what you all signed up for. You’ll have the hour to mill around the exhibit and fill it out.” He started pulling out papers and handing them out to the students.
As Sunset grabbed her paper, she scanned the crowd for signs of the tour guide but couldn’t find him in the sea of people. She frowned.
Most of her classmates had already started fanning out between the art pieces. Lyra and Bon Bon stood in front of a statue of Zeus, taking a selfie. Flash Sentry and some of his bandmates were goofing around and scoping the floor, checking out the naked statues and clothed girls both with equal interest (why they had signed on for the trip, considering the relatively high cost, she didn’t know). Only a few others were actually trying to get their worksheet done.
“Sunset! Get over here!” Pinkie Pie yelled from next to a bench, waving her hands, oblivious to the stares she was getting.
Sunset shook her head at her friend’s antics. She walked over to the bench where all six of her friends had gathered around.
Applejack looked up from her paper with a grin. “Nice goin’ there, Sunset. Ah never expected you to be such a bookworm like Twi over here.” She jabbed a thumb at Twilight, who was furiously scribbling down answers and adjusting her glasses at the same time.
“Yes, I agree with Applejack, darling. Honestly, with how much you’ve fauned over the city itself, I was surprised that you were actually paying attention to the teacher,” Rarity said.
“Well, I didn’t become the Princess' prized pupil back in Equestria just for my good looks, you know.” Sunset shrugged. “And this city is just plain awesome. I mean, jeez... you guys don’t realize just how huge this city is compared to the ones back in Equestria. Even the biggest cities there are like little villages compared to just this one alone. It feels so... alive,” she finished breathlessly.
“Somebody’s got a case of the Yorkies!” Pinkie chirped. She had transformed her worksheet into a paper airplane and threw it into the crowd. It did three loop-de-loops before she caught it.
“That’s not even a thing, Pinks!” Rainbow blinked. “Ah, whatever. Hey Sunset, you seem to know this stuff. What’s Hades’ Roman name?”
“It’s Pluto. That was his Roman form,” Sunset replied instantly.
“Boy, you sure do seem to know your ancient mythology,” Fluttershy said from the bench, clutching a Met water bottle she had bought. “Most people don’t even remember that there were other versions of the gods besides the Greek ones. I sure didn’t, not until this trip.”
“Yeah, what gives? Oh, and thanks.” Rainbow said.
Sunset thought for a moment. “I dunno. I just like learning about the old Greek and Roman stuff. They kinda remind me of the old Pegasopian stories I learned about once.” Sunset’s expression turned wistful. “That was a fun project...”
“Pegasopian?” Twilight asked, having finished her paper.
“Jeez, Twilight! You’re done already!” Rainbow asked. “Can I take a look at that for one sec?”
“No! You’re never going to learn if you just copy me.”
“Awwwww poop.”
Sunset cleared her throat, regaining everyone's attention. “Since you asked, I’m happy to share. Before the unification of the three tribes of Equestria, the ancient Pegasi, led by Commander Hurricane herself, were the most warlike of the tribes. They had an unmatched military strength, and their cloud cities were pretty much unsackable by any of the other tribes, due to being hundreds of feet in the air. The more I’ve read, the more I find the ancient Greeks and Romans to be analogous to them. Naming conventions, armor, even architecture; they all remind me of ancient pegasi.”
Applejack quirked a brow. “That sound a miiiight bit fishy to anybody else, or am I just lookin’ into things?”
The girls shared uneasy looks with each other.
Sunset waved a hand. “Meh. I doubt it’s anything other than coincidence. The pegasi of old loved their buildings be large and roomy, so they could fly in them. The Greeks also liked have having open air structures. Of course this would lead to some architecture being a bit samey. I’d guess the same goes to their armor and names as well.”
Besides, she had lived with the immortal Alicorn of the Sun herself, Princess Celestia. In all of her rigorous studies with the Princess, she had never encountered something that pointed to the two worlds colliding before. Though, Sunset could contact Equestria at the drop of a hat thanks to the magic journal in her bag. Maybe it was worth bugging Twilight about later, if only to have an excuse to catch up with her friend.
“Well, if you say so, Sunset.” Applejack looked back down at her paper and grumbled. “Well, we better get a move on with this worksheet.”
Sunset sat down onto a bench. Her legs needed a break; she had handed in her worksheet earlier, like Twilight, and had spent the rest of her time wandering around the exhibit. She kept an eye out for that one tour guide, but he seemed to be on the opposite side of the room whenever Sunset found him, which suited her just fine.
Her thoughts turned to the exhibits themselves. All of the things in this room had to have been hundreds of years old, masterfully crafted by the greatest minds of their time, and yet somehow enough of it had survived the ages so that the modern world could have a pretty fleshed out picture of what life was like back then. It all reminded Sunset of field trips with the Princess down to the Royal Canterlot Museum of Art and History. The Princess could have had sent her along with an advisor, but she herself accompanied Sunset every time. Sunset smiled as she remembered how she would stick her muzzle right up to the glass and gaze at old artifacts, all the while the Princess watched with her own smile at her student’s antics.
Her thoughts shifted back to the Princess herself, and her smile vanished. Sunset wondered what she had thought during those museum trips. She didn’t know exactly how old the Princess was, but Sunset figured that a lot of the artifacts weren’t just old pieces locked away under glass cases to her. Princess Celestia had probably knew the ponies who those old swords and armor had belonged too... she had probably even led the charge that had gotten those very soldiers killed. Sunset grimaced.
Did the Princess secretly take the time to mourn each time she had taken Sunset down to the museum? Did she mourn now, over the loss of her precious student who betrayed her trust all because she had a lust for power?
Thump!
She was shaken out of her thoughts by the arrival of a guy with black, windswept hair dressed in a blue zip-up hoodie and an orange t-shirt with jeans. A bag hung over his shoulder. He sat down next to her, though he didn’t seem to notice her. Sunset thought he was cute, in a devilish troublemaker kinda way. He glanced around the crowded museum with an odd expression on his face.
Figuring a good conversation could help lighten her mood, she tried her luck: “So... like the exhibit?”
He jumped. “Huh? Oh, whoa. I, uh, I didn’t notice you there.” He genuinely looked surprised. He scratched at the back of his head. “Whoops, my bad.”
Sunset brushed back a fiery bang. “It’s no problem.”
His eyes went back to scanning the crowd. They reminded Sunset of the sea. She had thought he had forgotten all about her until he spoke up again.
“Actually... I’ve been to this exhibit once before. Probably a good few years ago at this point.”
“Are you here on a field trip?” Sunset asked.
“Uh, I guess you could say that. First time I was here was on a field trip as well.” He sighed, and as his gaze swept across the room, he looked like he was remembering that field trip like it was a plane crash. “Let me tell you, when your math teacher volunteers to co-host that trip, it’s probably better just to stay home and feign vomit with some corn and guacamole thrown together.”
Sunset giggled. “I’ll keep that in mind. Fortunately for me our history teacher’s chaperoning our trip.”
“Where’re you from anyways? You don’t have an accent, so probably not Manhatten. Jersey? Upstate?”
“Nope. Canterlot.”
“And where’s that?”
“California.”
He let out a low whistle and glanced at her. “Dang. That’s pretty far. And you’re telling me you signed up for a summer school field trip?”
“Well, it’s not a summer school field trip, it was just offered as an extra thing. I’ve never been able to travel much, so I figured this was the best way to go about it.” She looked up into the skylight; wispy clouds rolled under bright blue skies. “And I’m so glad I did. New York City is absolutely breathtaking.”
“Yeah, the city's great and all, but seriously, you signed up for extra school?”
“Huh? I take it that you live around here?”
He beamed with pride. “Yep, and proud. My mom has an apartment not too far from here.”
The crowed started to thin out. The only people left were Sunset’s classmates, who were being entertained by Dr. Hooves telling a story about a Greek statue of Apollo, and that tour guide, who now had only two women still following him. The boy’s eyes narrowed in on them. He pulled out a cheap, plastic ballpoint pen and started fiddling with it.
Sunset noticed this. Before she could point this out, a girl with blonde hair tied back into a ponytail sat besides the boy.
“Who’s this?” she asked. Sunset almost flinched under her steely gray eyes.
“Uh...”
“I’m Sunset. Nice to meet you,” Sunset offered. She held out her hand. The girl studied it for a moment like she was looking for some sort of trap. When she deemed it safe she took it into her own. She studied Sunset, measuring her up like she was some puzzle, and Sunset did the same to her. One thing Sunset knew was that she did not want to get on this girl’s bad side.
“Annabeth,” she simply said. She let go and turned back to the boy, who put his hand over her shoulder and pulled her close.
Sunset politely turned her head away. She heard the two whispering to each other, and a faint hotness tinged her face. Before she was about to leave, Annabeth got up first. “Alright, I’ll go buy us a coffee. Be right back. It was nice meeting you, Sunset. See you later.”
Sunset was going to reply, but the words caught in her throat as she watched Annabeth walk away—a dagger that looked like the ones in this very exhibit attached to her side.
Sunset gulped.
“Ahhh, don’t worry about Annabeth,” the boy said. “She’s harmless... er, actually that’s a total lie. But she likes you, I think. You’re fine.”
“Uhhh...”
“Anyways, you probably want to get going.” He pointed to where Dr. Hooves was taking worksheets. “That’s your teacher, right?”
“Huh, why would I want to do that?” she asked.
“Eh, just trust me.”
“Uhm, yeah. See you.” Sunset wasn’t sure if she trusted him, but she started making her way back to her friends anyways. Over her shoulder, she saw the boy glare at the tour guide. She wasn’t sure just what he and Annabeth were planning, but she didn’t like it.
Pinkie was the first to greet her when she walked up. “Heya! Who was that guy you were talking to? He was cute!”
“He’s taken Pinkie. And trust me, you do not want to mess with his girlfriend.”
“Oh darn.” Rarity folded her arms. “Why are all the dashing ones taken before I can get to them.”
“Ya do know that even if ya did manage to get his number, you’d be across the country in a day, right?” Applejack asked.
“Well excuse me, Applejack. I ju—”
Alarms blared. Lights flashed. One of their classmates screamed. People started running for the exits.
“Everybody calm down! Now, I want everybody to grab a partner and get out safely!” Dr. Hooves yelled over the rising panic of the crowd. Unfortunately for him, the class rushed forwards towards an exit, pulling him with them.
“Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash yelled. The girls all nodded and surged towards the exit.
“Hey ugly! Over here!”
Sunset skidded to a stop and turned around. She gasped.
The boy had somehow managed to pull out a bronze, Greek-style sword, and he was advancing onto the tour guide, who growled and bared his pointed teeth.
“Sunse—holy crap! Is that a sword?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Sunset! Hurry up!” Applejack yelled.
“Look out!” Fluttershy shrieked.
Sunset jumped behind a column. Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy and dove behind the doorway. The rest of her friends did the same. An orange-and black pot smashed right on the edge of the exit.
“Darn it. I missed.” Sunset peeked out from behind her column to see that one of the woman who was with the tour guide had turned into a raging she-demon. The pout on her face did not match her pale skin, flaming hair, or her violent red eyes. Even stranger, one of her legs was that of a donkey while the other was a bronze amalgamation of metal. She kinda reminded Sunset of a vampire. “Come out, Daughter of Apollo. I promise I won’t bite, heehee. You’re not my type anyways.”
Daughter of Apollo? Sunset had no clue what she was talking about, but she knew that whatever was going on was not normal. Equestrian magic maybe? Whatever the case, she had to make sure that she and her friends made it out safely, but it was a short dash across empty space that separated them. The creature may have had a prosthetic leg, but Sunset was taking no chances. Across the room, she heard glass shattering and the boy shouting.
The creature was thumping forward slowly. Her gait sounded odd and mismatched. “You may not share the same scent as other children of Apollo, but it has been a while since I’ve slain one of them. Either way, there’s no mistaking the scent of the sun still lingering on you like a cheap perfume!”
“Hey! What’s the big deal, ya friggin butt!” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked as she peeked around the doorway. Then her eyes widened. “Holy—”
Thankfully somebody pulled Rainbow Dash back, but not before the demon hissed. “What’s this? More fresh demigod meat? Hmmm... your scent is strange though... no matter, the more the merrier!”
Sunset wasn’t about to let anybody hurt her friends—she seized her chance. She held out her hand and pulled from the small magical reservoir inside of her, causing her fingers to be enveloped in a cyan glow. She slammed the door shut and locked it tight. Hopefully her friends wouldn’t try to get back in. With luck they would take the hint and instead try and help the rest of their class escape.
The demon woman jumped. “What the—”
Sunset dashed out from behind the column. “Hey, ugly! I’m the one you want right? Well come and get it!” She weaved between marble columns as the demon screeched and gave chase. Despite the bronze leg, Sunset could feel the heat from the demon’s hair not too far behind her. Sunset passed an ancient bust of some Greek figure and she silently asked Princess Twilight for forgiveness for what she was about to do. She grabbed the priceless artifact and turned around, chucking it right into the creature’s face where it shattered.
“Gah! That’s it! I was going to leave you unharmed—more or less—before I handed you over, but now you’ve made me mad!”
Sunset flipped a bench and dipped behind it. “Just what the heck are you? You’re not native to Equestria, that’s for sure!” Twenty feet away, Sunset saw the boy roll out of the way as the tour guide’s massive arms came down for a kill. Somehow she had failed to notice how tall the guide was—maybe eight feet? Nine?
“Equestria? Bah, you can’t trick me, Daughter of Apollo. My master will make sure that you are destroyed!”
Sunset grit her teeth. The creature was slowly approaching now. She wracked her brain for an answer. And then everything clicked.
“Y-you’re an empousa! I’ve read about you during my studies! You were daughters of the goddess Hecate!”
“Gee, I’ve noticed.”
“B-but that’s impossible! Equestria doesn’t have empousa or Greek goddesses! You shouldn’t exist!”
“Oh, but I do! And I assure you I can prove it!” She widened her mouth, her fangs glinted underneath the skylight. .
Meanwhile, the boy—she needed a name for him. Logan seemed right—Logan sidestepped a massive fast and slashed off the arm of the giant. Logan raised his sword into a defensive stance, but right behind him another empousa—the other woman—was about to sink her fangs into him.
“Behind you, Logan!”
“What?” ‘Logan’ whirled around, and luckily his raised blade blocked the monster’s strike.
Then a pale face took up Sunset’s vision. She fell backwards onto the floor. The empousa crawled over her and bared it’s fangs. “Are you ready to d—” Before she could finish, a glowing dagger pierced her chest. She exploded and glittering golden dust coated Sunset’s form.
“Ew, gross... I think some of her got into my mouth...”
“Get up!” A hand gripped Sunset’s and dragged her to her feet. “You okay?”
In front of her, Annabeth stood with her dagger in hand. Now that she was closer to it, Sunset could confirm that it was indeed a Greek style dagger. Had Annabeth stolen it? And why did it make the hairs on the back of Sunset’s neck tingle?
“Besides the awful taste in my mouth, yeah, I’m fine.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. But we’ve got bigger issues at hand right now.” Annabeth glared sideways. Logan had managed to block the other empousa’s strike but he had a nasty cut over his face. He was cornered between a water fountain and the monsters.
“Right, we’ve gotta help Logan.” Sunset said.
“Logan?”
“Uh... I needed a name for him, alright? Calling him “that boy” in my head was getting old.”
Despite the situation, Annabeth let out a short laugh. “Pfffft, Logan. Ha! His name’s Percy.”
“Whatever, we’ve gotta help him! And after this, I want answers!”
Before either girl could move, the skylight shattered. As the girls dove out of the way, three more giant figures came leaping down in a shower of glass. One of them, the tallest and ugliest, which shaggy hair and tons of scars—obviously their leader—barked at the two monsters cornering Percy. Luckily the rest of them were distracted enough to give Annabeth and Sunset time to duck behind two columns.
“You two! Why haven’t you gotten the Daughter of Apollo yet? Earl, answer me!” He pointed to the large tour guide.
Earl the Tour Guide pointed a meaty finger at Percy. “Got distracted. Found this one here, the Son of the Sea God.”
Percy waved. “Uh, hi?”
Their leader growled. “Sea God, eh? This the runt who managed to defeat Kronos? Hmph.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at the other two giants that also arrived. “You look for the Daughter of Apollo. I can smell her—she’s close. And leave her unharmed! Boss wants their package in mint condition!”
“Yaaa Goober!” The others screamed before fanning out.
“His name is Goober?” Sunset whispered. Earl and Goober... not the names she expected for Greek legends come to life.
“Daughter of Apollo... Sunset, that must be you.”
One giant yelled “Noise!” and soon the two girls were each struggling in the grasps of two huge giants. Sunset tried squirming out but it was no use. The giants had iron grips. The best she could do was free a hand and uselessly beat on her captor.
“Annabeth!” Percy yelled. “Just what do you guys even want with them?”
“We don’t want anything to do with this one,” Goober said, gesturing to Annabeth. “We want this one here.” He examined Sunset’s face. His breath reminded her of Rainbow’s sock drawer. “This one has got a date with destiny, I’m afraid.”
He turned back to Percy. “You and the Athenian girl however are ripe for killing. You’ll make a fantastic lunch.”
Percy pointed his sword straight at the giant. “No way am I getting eaten by a bunch of Canadians.”
The monsters laughed. What was Percy thinking? There was no way he could fight off four giants and an empousa in the state he was in. And then it clicked in Sunset’s mind; he was stalling. With her free hand maybe Sunset could help him out somehow?
“It’s just you against us, Percy Jackson. Give up now and I’ll be sure to use your bone marrow in my poutine gravy.”
“Poot poot!” the two giants yelled. Earl facepalmed.
“I think you forget who you’re dealing with here.” And with that, Percy turned and slashed the water fountain. Water started to gush out of the broken machine, creating a pool on the floor. He raised his hand and Sunset felt something in the air change. She instantly realized that Percy was trying to do some sort of magic, but it didn’t seem to be working. He was too weak.
Sunset raised her free hand. Cyan flared across her fingers.
“What are you—” Sunset tuned Goober out. She concentrated on helping out Percy, pulling magic from not only herself but from his and Annabeth’s bronze weapons. Somehow, they held some sort of magical energy in them—enough for Sunset to draw from. She then pushed all of that magic out of herself and into Percy’s spell.
“Whoa!” he yelped. The gush of water from the fountain became a torrent. Tendrils of water lashed out from the pool at the giant’s feet. They slashed and struck at the giants, causing Goober and his two lackeys to turn into dust. The empousa screeched and she tried running away, but a water tendril slashed her in half. Earl tried to dodge the water but Percy thrust his sword into him and turned him into dust as well.
And then all three of them were alone. Percy dropped onto his butt and huffed. Somehow he was still bone-dry. Annabeth was next to him in an instant.
“Percy! Are you okay?” Annabeth fished through his pack and grabbed something that looked like a lemon square straight out of Pinkie’s pocket. Then she shoved it into his mouth. He gulped it down and the cuts and bruises he had acquired started to fade away.
“Yeah... yeah, I’m fine now that you’re here.”
“Not now, Seaweed Brain.” Annabeth shook her head as she got to her feet. “We’d better get out of here before the cops show up. We have to get you back to Camp, Sunset.”
“Whoa whoa whoa.” Sunset held up her hands. “What in the wide wide world are you talking about? I am not going anywhere without an explanation. I find myself almost being killed by creatures straight out of Greek mythos and then you two rush in with freaking swords and daggers and magic on hand!”
Percy and Annabeth shared a look. “Sunset, look, I know this is going to be hard to believe, but... we’re half-bloods. We’re half mortal, half god. And... so are you.”
Sunset blinked once. Then twice.
“You see,” Annabeth continued, “when you’re a half-blood—or demigod, as we’re also known—you tend to have strange things happen to you. Ever had some weird thing that you couldn’t explain happen in your life?”
“Umm... well...”
“That was probably a monster or something. Though, usually it comes to a point at around thirteen when you start getting into real danger. But, how old are you? Like sixteen or seventeen right? Honestly, that’s not normal.” Sunset noticed Annabeth glance at her hand. “Then again... I don’t think you’re a normal demigod...”
Outside in the distance, the distant echo of police sirens could be heard.
“Hey, Annabeth? Sunset? We gotta go, like now.” Percy said, hoisting himself up.
“But my friends—”
“Will probably be safer without you nearby.” Seeing the look on Sunset’s face, Annabeth quickly added, “I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. Monsters don’t usually go out and attack mortals unless they have good reason to.”
Sunset grit her teeth. “Fine. I’ll go. But only because I want to know just what the heck is going on. After that, I’m leaving, no matter what you say.”
Annabeth sighed. “Fine, whatever. Now, let’s get moving.”