“Pretty sure they’re in that building!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
Sunset nodded. “Okay, let’s get out of the van quietly and case the joint before we do anything else.”
The warehouse didn’t look very intimidating. Certainly disreputable – it looked like exactly the kind of place where a gang of thieves would hide their stolen goods – but not threatening. Still, Sunset wasn’t inclined to take any chances.
“You hear me, Rainbow Dash? We talk through our plan first, and only charge in once we know what we’re doing.”
“Fine. What’s the plan?”
“First, we scout out how many exits this place has and check for windows –” Sunset groaned as a rainbow blur disappeared beside her.
“Two other doors, no windows,” reported Rainbow Dash cheerfully from the other side of the group, “and – hey!”
“Next,” continued Sunset Shimmer through gritted teeth, one hand holding a struggling Rainbow Dash by the collar, “we establish lookouts to watch the entrances before we carefully and cautiously find out which door is easiest to open.”
“I’ll be a lookout!” The group turned to Fluttershy in surprise. She quailed at the attention, but said, “...I think I’d rather stay out here where there probably won’t be anyone coming, rather than go in there where there almost certainly is?”
Sunset shrugged. “Sure. Sounds good. You can probably send a bird or something to warn us if you see anything.”
Spike piped up from around Twilight’s ankles. “I, ah, think I’ll stick around out here too. Leave the spooky warehouse exploration to those with opposable thumbs.”
Fluttershy smiled at him. “We can keep each other company. While patrolling and keeping a lookout as well, of course.”
“Okay. Are the rest of us good to go in?” The other assembled Rainbooms nodded. “Great. Once we’re inside…” Sunset hesitated. “We don’t know what we’re going to face, so just be careful, okay?”
“Fine,” growled Rainbow Dash. “Can we please get moving now?”
Sunset turned to Twilight, who gave a nervous nod. “Okay. So let’s take a look at these doors. Which one can we get past most simply?” She looked at the door in front of them, then peered around the side of the warehouse, squinting in the gloom. “I can’t quite tell –”
A crunching sound followed by a clang! made her turn her eyes back to the group in shock. Applejack brushed her hands against each other and cheerfully declared, “This one looks good to me.” She gestured to the buckled door hanging off its hinges.
Sunset took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Right,” she said eventually. “I guess that’ll do.”
The group cautiously stepped through the doorway into the warehouse. The room behind the door was small and brightly lit, but thankfully deserted. A desk and a few cupboards looked boringly unthreatening. But one feature of the room made them all stop in their tracks.
Next to the inner door, the wall was adorned with a large red and yellow symbol that chilled Sunset to her core. “My… cutie mark…” she murmured.
Twilight Sparkle shivered. “Well, I guess that confirms it,” she said softly. “There’s no way that’s a coincidence.” Then looking round, she said, “Sunset? Are you okay? You’re shaking…”
“No.”
The group all looked at Sunset in concern, but she continued, “No! I have worked… too hard at this! I have fought down the impulses to control, exploit, manipulate. I have made the choice every day to embrace friendship, and not take advantage of those around me, no matter how easy it might be. That is not who Sunset Shimmer is! Not any more! And now…” Sunset took a deep breath and continued grimly, “Now this other girl thinks she can come into my city and say that Sunset Shimmer is some… petty thief? Some selfish criminal? No.”
Her eyes narrowed as she concluded, “That Sunset Shimmer… is dead.”
The seven girls stared at the ominous symbol on the wall.
In the hush, Rainbow Dash whispered to Applejack, “Uh, is she saying she’s gonna kill this girl?”
“Ha!” Sunset’s laugh cut through the tension. “That… was not quite what I meant. But I’m gonna leave my options open until I meet her and find out what her deal is.” Striding forward, she turned to the others and said, “Come on, let’s find the spider in this lair.”
Beyond the inner door was a cavernous open space, lined with storage shelves. The evening light filtering through a couple of skylights did little to dispel the gloom, and even Rainbow Dash was glancing around nervously as they cautiously explored the aisles.
Pinkie Pie called out in a stage whisper, “Hey, Twilight! Looks like your gizmo is in here!” She was waving the detector towards a shelf that looked no different from the others around it.
Twilight pulled the indicated box off the shelves and opened it. “Wonderful!” she cried, pulling out a small, purse-sized piece of electronics.
Pinkie watched with interest. “What’s that?”
“Just a multimultimeter. It records all sorts of data about its environment and uploads it.” Twilight tucked it into her skirt pocket. “The others must be around here too. Let’s all–”
Rainbow Dash interrupted her. “Hey, Twi, quiet for a moment. Do you guys hear that?”
Everyone paused. Rarity cocked her head and said, “A kind of hissing sound? Whistling?”
“Yeah, I hear it too,” Applejack replied. “But where is it… comin’... Uh, guys!?”
Sunset looked where her shaking hand was pointing. Through the darkness two red glowing points could clearly be seen, moving towards the group. The girls backed away as the shape moved into the light, revealing…
“A coffee machine?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
The trundling device did resemble a coffee maker, but seven feet tall, mounted to caterpillar tracks, and equipped with various glowing electronic attachments. On top of the vast jug of brown liquid were two camera lenses in a rotating dome, giving the eerie impression of a head that smoothly turned to look at each of them in turn. A few LEDs flickered from blue to angry red and a dispassionate synthetic voice announced, “INTRUDERS.”
Six girls caught each other’s eyes. Six geodes flashed. Six superheroes floated into the air.
The robot aimed several nozzles and released jets of coffee. Sunset Shimmer recoiled, but Rarity was ready, and the streams of scalding liquid splashed off shimmering crystal shields which flashed into existence in front of her and the others.
Applejack soared over the automaton’s head and dived down, fist extended, delivering a colossal smash to its “head”. The dome shattered but the enemy seemed unaffected, and a fresh burst of coffee caught Applejack in the chest, knocking her backwards. “Aagh!” she yelled. “That stuff is hot!”
“Applejack!” Rarity cried out, and flew to her side, throwing a wall of crystals around them.
A purple glow appeared around the robot: Twilight was trying to lift it telekinetically. “It’s resisting me!” she said in frustration, and dodged upwards as another jet of coffee blasted at her. “Rarity, we need you!”
“Don’t worry, I got this,” said Rainbow Dash nonchalantly. She cracked her knuckles and entered the state she called Speed.
She’d used Speed to dodge baddies’ attacks plenty of times. She’d never actually tried to use it to protect her friends, but she’d thought of the idea several weeks ago and been meaning to try it out.
Sustaining Speed was easier if she was moving, so Rainbow Dash strolled up to the robot as it rotated with glacial slowness. She tried a few kicks just to see if she could do any damage, not really expecting to get anywhere. Then she saw the thing start emitting a stream of boiling coffee, slowly advancing straight towards Twilight Sparkle, who had apparently landed to try to focus better on her telekinesis. Dash jogged over to her friend and tugged her out of the way.
She returned to the robot, feeling the strain growing: this burst of Speed would need to end soon. She took a little time to try yanking at bits of the machine, and managed to pull one coffee nozzle out of its mounting, leaving it dangling pointing at the ground. Satisfied, she took a few steps back, and relaxed her mental grip on time, letting the world catch up with her.
The jet of coffee shot harmlessly past Twilight, who gasped and staggered. She shot Rainbow a grateful smile and finally managed to lift the robot unsteadily into the air. Once aloft, its coffee jets started spurting haphazardly, unable to consistently target any of them, so Applejack and Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to fly up to it and smash the robot up a bit. But it still needed… “Pinkie Pie! You’re up!”
“Whee!” Pinkie gleefully bounded off the ceiling (just because she could) and landed on the coffee machine’s oversized top surface as it wobbled in midair. She pulled some cupcakes out from somewhere and proclaimed with a wicked smile, “This coffee needs a shot of caramel!”
Sunset watched Pinkie throw the glowing sugary treats into the giant jug of coffee. The giant… glass… jug…
“Rarity!” she shouted, eyes wide.
Rarity, thankfully quick on the uptake, threw up a sphere of crystal shields around the floating robot, just in time for Pinkie’s sugar bombs to explode, shattering the huge coffee pot and spraying scalding liquid and shards of glass in all directions. The crystal dome having contained the deadly debris, it vanished and let the glass tinkle onto the floor while coffee puddled around it.
Twilight Sparkle was still staring. “I’m… very glad you’re with us, Rarity,” she said fervently. “That could have gone very badly wrong.”
“It’s good to know one’s appreciated,” Rarity preened. “But we needed all of us to defeat that… strange machine. We make a good team.”
Suddenly a harsh voice cut across the triumphant conversation. “When you’re all done congratulating yourselves for destroying my property, you might like to see what I’ve got here.”
Sunset Shimmer found the most disconcerting thing was the way all her friends looked at her first, even though the voice had clearly come from across the warehouse. A bright light flashed on, illuminating something like a stage at the far end of the cavernous space.
The first thing Sunset Shimmer noticed was a figure standing on the stage. She wore a mask, and yet there was no doubt at all about her identity. The jumpsuit she wore was a deep purple, studded with spikes along the shoulders and arms, but the chest bore a large red-and-yellow logo in the shape of a sun. And her hair, visible behind the mask, was cut short and styled into a series of jagged spikes, but still the same red and yellow colour as Sunset’s own.
Rainbow Dash’s attention was drawn to the space next to the figure, where another large robot on caterpillar tracks was hulking. This one was much more boxy, effectively just a large cuboid about six feet a side. Its front had a few dials on, but most of the front face was clear like glass, so Dash could see inside it. And trapped within it, hammering her fists on the glass door, was… “Fluttershy!”
Twilight Sparkle, on the other hand, gasped in shock as she saw what the villain was holding. Who she was holding. In one hand she held Twilight’s beloved dog Spike, and in the other an all too familiar device of Twilight’s own invention.
“No! Don’t hurt Spike!” she yelled.
Her friends joined her. “Let Fluttershy go!” “What are you doing?” “You monster!”
The figure stood for a few seconds, smiling smugly as they shouted. “By the way, don’t think of using your rainbow super speed, or any of those other powers, against me,” she said conversationally. “Your sweet little talking dog wouldn’t appreciate it.”
“What even is that thing she’s holdin’?” Applejack wondered.
Twilight Sparkle winced. “It’s mine. It was designed as a razor. For shaving your legs and armpits. It’s not meant to hurt anyone!”
“And yet,” the villain purred, “it seems to be a remarkably effective slicing weapon. Cauterises too.” She gave Twilight Sparkle a derisive smile. “Seriously, you built a laser-powered razor? Was it just for the rhyme?”
Sunset Shimmer became aware of another robot trundling up behind them. Chancing a glance around, she saw something that looked like a giant, malicious kettle with gratuitously vicious metal claws. What is with all the kitchen robots? she thought to herself.
The other Sunset was still monologuing. “So, quite the little band of superheroes, aren’t you?” She gestured at each of them in turn with Twilight’s laser device. “Super speed. Conjured shields. Telekinesis. Some kind of explosive power. You’re the one who ripped my door off its hinges.” Her weapon came to rest pointing at Sunset. “And then we have the mystery girl with even more mysterious fashion sense.”
“Excuse me?” Sunset spluttered. “What’s wrong with my fashion sense?” She tried to ignore Rarity’s smirk.
“It’s just curious that you should choose to dye your hair red and yellow… With your skin tone it’s like you’re trying to copy someone.”
“Nope,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “This is just how Sunset Shimmer’s always looked.”
The villain froze. “Where did you hear that name?”
Sunset growled. “Oh, for crying out loud. Yes, I’m Sunset Shimmer. Yes, we know you are too.”
“I am the master criminal known only as Sundown,” the masked girl proclaimed. “Any connection to a civilian known as Sunset Shimmer is entirely circumstantial.”
“Uh-huh.” Sunset gave her a cynical glare. “You’re not convincing anyone, you know.”
The one calling herself ‘Sundown’ was looking thoughtful. She suddenly gestured at Sunset with the laser weapon. “No. This is too much of a coincidence. Out of all the robberies I’ve done, in three cities, only two others have ever tracked me to my lair. And the only ones to manage to get past a guardian are a group of girls my age with magical abilities, including some doppelganger of me, in the same city where I found my own –” She coughed. “Anyway. No, this isn’t a coincidence, is it. There’s something about this place. Or maybe about you yourself, ‘Sunset Shimmer’, if that is your real name. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was somehow you who gave these girls their magic powers. And maybe made this dog talk too.”
The girls exchanged glances. “She’s… not exactly wrong…” Applejack admitted.
“My name’s Spike,” said the dog in question drily. “And I don’t think you need to still hold my collar quite so tight.”
“Enough.” Sunset Shimmer stepped forward. “You have our friends hostage. You’ve won. What do you want?”
“Your magic. Hand over those powers.”
The girls exchanged shocked looks. “But… we can’t do that!” “I don’t think that would even work.” “No way!”
Sundown sighed. “Fine. In which case I want you to get out, stay out, and never bother me again,” she snarled., before smiling sweetly at Twilight and adding, “I got everything else I wanted from your delightful laboratory earlier.”
“We came here to get that stuff back!” Twilight cried. “I worked hard on those!”
“Twilight, she’s got Spike. And Fluttershy,” said Sunset with a sigh. “I don’t like it, but we have to give up here.”
“That’s a good girl,” Sundown said in a mocking tone. “Now, get out of here, and I’ll give your friends back.”
The kettle-bot started moving towards them, driving them towards the door they’d come in. Sunset stooped to tie her boot lace, and overbalanced as the robot didn’t stop but pushed right up against her. “No need to shove, I’m going, I’m going,” she grumbled.
As the Rainbooms shuffled out of the warehouse, Sundown put Spike down at last. Then she opened the door of the microwave robot and grabbed Fluttershy by the arm, yanking her out to follow the others.
“Now just in case you might be thinking about coming back, let me remind you I know where Miss Twilight Sparkle lives. The same goes if you were to even consider telling the police about any of this. You all just lay low and forget about this place, understand?” Without waiting for an answer, Sundown slammed the door on them. It clanged against the doorframe and bounced back, buckled out of shape as it was. Sundown growled in annoyance and shouted at the girls, “What are you laughing at? Go! Get away from here before I decide to just take you prisoner instead!”
“We’re going, Miss Sundown, ma’am,” said Fluttershy hastily, shooing the others away.
Seven girls and one dog stood silently in the evening air, not meeting each other’s eyes. Nobody said anything, because there wasn’t anything to say.