//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Hostile History // by Jest //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer faced down the gigantic dragon. On her own she might’ve been far too afraid to fight like this. She wanted to defend Canterlot, but she wasn’t stupid enough to do something like that. With the six of them together however, they could do almost anything.  If only Twilight would hurry up and get here… Sunset Shimmer thought. How do we fight something so big?  A dozen possible plans ran through Sunset’s head, but unfortunately for her their enemy wasn’t going to give her the chance to think about it for long. For a moment later the beast charged, roaring and spewing flames towards Sunset and her friends. The group immediately scattered, jumping to both sides as the very real flames caught onto the carpet and blackened the cardboard movie stand ups behind them. Sunset darted for the stairs to the upper balcony, for despite what these monsters kept saying about her “power,” she was easily the weakest of her friends, at least when it came to combat. It was true that her powers might enable her to do terrible things if she ran for public office or something, but not being a citizen didn’t make that very likely. “Lets see how ya’ like this!” Applejack shouted, launching a huge cooler of ice cream right into the dragon’s face. “You need to chill!” “You seriously just said that.” Rainbow darted through the air around the confused dragon, occasionally swinging in for a kick at its back and shoulders. “Applejack, how are we still friends?” The dragon roared again, swiping at Rainbow, but it was much too slow. Though the attack did tear out a nearby cement column. Immediately the entire structure groaned in protest, and Sunset stopped at the base of the stairs. The roof was already sagging.  Damnit, that was loadbearing. Why do they always cause so much property damage? Sunset thought bitterly to herself “Girls!” Sunset Shimmer shouted as loud as she could. “We need to get outside right now!” The theater began rumbling, adding even more urgency to her shout. Sunset didn't wait for her friends to respond and began to sprint towards the door, dodging behind the dragon’s massive tail.  The dragon hardly cared about the others, however and it didn’t even seem to mind that half its smoky teeth had been broken and its mouth had been disfigured by exploding candy. The creature merely belched more flames at the fleeing girl. Sunset might’ve been scorched by the attack, if Rarity didn’t appear behind her with a shield, blocking the flames before they could reach the girl.  “Come on girls! This way!” Rarity shouted. “Thanks,” Sunset muttered. “You’re a lifesaver, Rarity.” “Don’t be so dramatic,” Rarity replied, waving one hand dismissively as the others ran or flew out the open door. Pinkie came out last, pushing a cart of sweets over the uneven ground. She had opened a dozen different kinds of candy already and was piling up quite a collection on the top. But she hadn’t launched her attack yet.  “A lifesaver would be if you spilled ketchup on your top during a dance and I happened to have a replacement in my locker. I do take precautions against such emergencies, by the way, in case-” The dragon wasn’t amused by Rarity’s casual remarks however, and  it lunged forward at them again, crashing into the shield. It didn’t break, but the force of the blow was enough to throw them backward out the open doorway. The dragon kept coming, tearing through a nearby wall and trudging after the six girls. The loss of another wall was more than the little theater could take and the entire building collapsed inwards with a crash even louder than the dragon’s roars. The resulting explosion of debris filled the air with a massive amount of dust and rubble that briefly obscured the sky. Sunset screamed as she flew through the air, bracing herself for what might be a fatal impact. It probably would’ve been if Twilight hadn’t caught her under both arms and a second later a transparent sphere of magic surrounded them. The kind of magic Sunset could’ve done with ease if they were in Equestria. But they weren’t, and she didn’t have her horn.  “Miss me?” Twilight asked. Sunset couldn't respond right away though, as Twilight’s thoughts filled her mind for the instant they made contact. Sunset saw her date with Timber, interrupted again. Her feelings for him were there, nervous and hesitant. Twilight wasn’t sure if she should be with him. Timber felt inadequate and frankly a bit useless. In addition Twilight was having a harder time reassuring him that he wasn’t whenever something went wrong.  “I see that Rarity taught you how to make a shield,” Sunset Shimmer remarked after the vision had ended. “She did,” Twilight replied. They landed, and Twilight deposited Sunset back on the sidewalk. A second later and the smoke cleared around the theater, giving Sunset her first good view of the chaos. Cars had been crushed by rubble as well as the dragon’s mad thrashing. Far from the invincible beast a real dragon might’ve been, this one was partially pinned under the rubble of the building, with only its forelegs and head free to lash out at its enemies. It tore up the concrete using its massive claws, breathing fire madly at anything that was close enough. Luckily for the rainbooms they were either too fast or too far away to be injured by the beast. “You really shouldn’t have given me all this,” Pinkie remarked from just outside of its reach, the girl packing together an enormous ball of candy using chewing gum.  It still wasn’t listening to her however. “Sunset Shimmer!” it roared. “You can’t hide from your destiny forever! Your mind is a slave to the Elements! I am trying to set you free!” “Why didn’t you send me a letter?” Sunset Shimmer screamed back. “There were people in there!” “Insects!” the dragon repeated. “They are no more significant to us than the trees of a forest. Useful, but sometimes necessary to harvest. You were not always so afraid to see things this way. You remember.” Sunset Shimmer did remember, distantly. When she planned to invade Equestria with the population of her school, she had known many of them would get hurt. It didn’t bother her then. It wasn’t so much that she thought they would die for a good cause—she just hadn’t cared what happened to them. “You’re mean! If you wanted to talk to Sunset you should have just called!” Pinkie yelled. “Sorry, but… I’m not sorry!”  The pink girl hucked her homemade grenade at the creature’s face, the ball of sweets glowing hot with magic. A series of rapid explosions shook the street, shattering nearby windows and setting off car alarms. Sunset covered her ears and shielded her face with one arm. A second later bits of broken cement and splatters of black sludge went everywhere.  The theater collapsed again, rumbling concrete and steel smashing down on where the dragon had been holding it up. Eventually Pinkie Pie picked herself up off the ground and hefted another ball of sweets, ready to throw. The attack was never needed however, as the beast seemed to be slain. Except it wasn’t.  As the dust settled, Sunset caught her first glimpse of the dragon standing just in front of the theater. It was much smaller; gone from a mature adult she might’ve seen overhead to the adolescents that sometimes tormented ponies who lived too close to the Dragonlands. Black ichor covered the ground behind it, but it didn’t seem to mind that most of its body was destroyed. It sprinted out of the crater, and across the street for Sunset, baring its teeth and snapping for her neck. This time she moved too slow, and none of her friends were fast enough to save her. It smashed into her chest, driving her to the ground. But instead of ripping out her throat it just held her down. It would’ve done nothing at all, except for her powers. She saw its thoughts, but they didn’t even resemble a living creature. She had only ever been exposed to human thoughts, and this was nothing like them. She was being forced to see something. A vision, prepared for just this occasion. “Equestria is a nation of lies,” said a voice, deep and resonant.  She saw the nation of her birth before her, its many cities stretching out below her against a starry night. “Its ruler pretends to offer tolerance and understanding to her citizens, granting them a peaceful place to live. This, however, is a fabrication, a hollow shell created to satisfy the egos of its rulers and keep the population in placid compliance.” Far below, Sunset saw something she’d read about in ancient histories—something she knew only one living pony had ever seen. Nightmare Moon arrived at the Castle of the Two Sisters with her mighty army, after leaving a trail of destruction across the whole of Equestria. Yet instead of reasoning with her, instead of convincing Nightmare Moon that what she was doing was wrong, her sister banished her. Sunset watched this all happen as though she’d been there to see it, helpless to move or even perceive her own body. “This is one of two ways Celestia and her kind deal with the problems they cannot solve,” continued the strange, unearthly voice. “They banish them from Equestria. Some to the moon, and others—” Another vision. She saw the sirens this time, cast out from their home. But not just them—many other creatures, strange beasts she had no names for. Dragons, minotaurs, monsters. All sent away from Equestria, where they could cause no more harm to ponies. So many creatures that hadn’t survived in the modern records, even though Sunset knew them better than most. “This was not the cruelest sentence Celestia the Tyrant ever invoked, Sunset. But you know what that sentence is. You felt their barbed sting yourself. You know this to be true,” it continued. Now Sunset Shimmer saw herself. Flying in the air outside Canterlot High, on the cusp of realizing her grand revenge plan. She would take the power she deserved—until she was hit with the Elements, and not just her. She saw Equestria again, and half a dozen ponies struck one after another. Other creatures too—Discord, Sombra, Nightmare Moon. So many others. “You have been reprogrammed,” claimed the voice. “Your will was stolen from you. I am confident that when it is restored, you will want recompense paid and we can take what we are owed, together.” Then Sunset Shimmer screamed as pain suddenly assaulted her mind. Her head felt as though it was splitting apart, her whole world fogging over. She wasn't sure what it was doing, but it felt like the monster was trying to kill her! Sunset pushed back, trying to shove the beast out of her head with all the force she could muster. It must not have been prepared for this, for it let out a surprised yelp before its assault suddenly stopped. Around her, the dragon of fog and smoke melted to sludge. A heavy red stone dropped to the ground with an inert thunk, splashing into the tar beside her. Sunset clutched at her head, which felt like it must be bleeding, maybe ripped right open. Her hand found only uninjured skin, however, with splotches of thick black tar everywhere. “You did it!” Rainbow shouted from beside her. “I dunno how you managed that, but you did it!” Rainbow Dash offered her hand, and Sunset took it, rising uneasily from the sludge. Her head was still throbbing from the hostile thoughts that had surged there, the vision still fresh in her mind. That’s why it came after me. It didn’t care about destroying the city, or even hurting people. It was only here for me. Sunset Shimmer realized. “It’s just a little terrifying,” Rarity said from her other side, offering her a damp cloth. “I didn’t know you could kill something with your mind.” “I didn’t do anything,” Sunset retorted, accepting the cloth eagerly and wiping the slime away from her face.  With her vision restored, she could see black vans on either side of the intersection, with police watching in a mix of shock and relief. The police stayed where they were, but they weren’t the only ones crowding the intersection. This isn’t going to end well. Sunset realized. “Well that was the most impressive bit of nothing I’ve ever seen,” Pinkie Pie remarked with a giggle. “That is if you really did nothing, cus it looked like something to me. Unless it just got bored and gave up?” No, it did something, Sunset Shimmer thought. She still wasn’t sure what, but she had a feeling she would figure it out soon enough. Soldiers burst out of the vans on both sides, as though someone had shot a starting pistol on a race. They wore all black and full riot gear, carrying large submachine guns under their arms. “Everyone, on the ground!” they yelled, loudly enough that it carried over the frightened voices and the squealing firetruck from a street over. “Right now!” Sunset and her friends all dropped to the ground, obeying instantly. Even Rarity got down, though she rolled to one side so she wouldn’t be in any of the slime. Sunset Shimmer watched as soldiers surrounded each of them, pointing guns down at them from above. Then Foxtrot emerged from behind the group of soldiers, approaching Sunset. He had his own gun slung over his shoulder, though he didn’t have it drawn.  “What did we tell you about staying out of this?” he asked, voice no longer friendly. “There were people in that building. People died because of you.” “Because of us?” Sunset didn’t move from the ground, but she didn’t even try to keep the fury from her voice. “I didn’t see any of your friends with guns here protecting people! It was either us or let that thing rampage through the city uncontested you pile of brainless muscle!” “Right,” he muttered. “That’s why it was saying your name.”  He turned away.  “Bring them in,” he ordered. “They’re all under arrest.”